Page:Great Men and Famous Women Volume 3.djvu/223

ELIZABETH, QUEEN OF ENGLAND 149 In their broader features the character of Knox and of the work he achieved cannot be misread. In himself he stands as the pre-eminent type of the religious reformer dominated by his one transcendent idea, indifferent or hostile to every interest of life that did not subserve its realization. He is sometimes spoken of as a fanatic ; but the term is hardly applicable to one who combined in such a degree as Knox, the shrewdest worldly sense with an ever-ready wit and a native humor that declares itself in his most serious moments and in the treatment of the loftiest subjects. To blame him for intolerance or harshness is but to pass judgment on his age and on the type to which he belongs. It is his unquestion- able tribute, that the work he accomplished was the fashioning anew of his coun- try's destinies It has to be added that by his " History of the Reformation in Scotland," Knox holds a place of his own in the history of literature. His nar- rative, as was to be expected, is that of one who saw only a single aspect of the events he chronicles ; but the impress of the writer's individuality, stamped on every page, renders his work possibly unique in English literature. ELIZABETH, QUEEN OF ENGLAND BY SAMUEL L. KNAPP (1533-1603) r F the question respecting the equality of the sexes was to be determined by an appeal to the characters of sov- ereign princes, the comparison is, in pro- portion, manifestly in favor of woman, and that without having recourse to the trite and flippant observation, proved to have been ill-founded, of male and fe- male influence. Elizabeth of England affords a glorious example in truth of this position. Daughter of Henry VIII., a capri- cious tyrant, and of the imprudent and unfortunate Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth was born at Greenwich, on the banks of the Thames, September 7, 1533. Her in fancy was unfortunate through the un- happy fate of her mother, but she was nevertheless educated with care and attention ; in her yet infant faculties her father had the discernment to perceive uncommon strength and promise. Lady Champernvun, an accomplished and excellent xvoman, was appointed by 1 fenry