REVIEWS 121
In this progress Mr. Seeley finds three distinct periods of advance, interspaced by two periods of reaction, in each of which English policy drifts back again, and becomes once more entangled in the dynastic nets. The reign of Elizabeth includes the first period of advance. Elizabeth stood among the European sovereigns of her day, unique in this that she was connected with no foreign dynasty who could claim her sup- port ; while the stern circumstances in which her life had been cast forbade the making of a new alliance. Her nearest kin was the be-Frenched Scotch woman, the bitter rival of Elizabeth ; both by creed, and by the traditions of her house the enemy of England, and whose every interest demanded the subversion and overthrow of the power of the Protestant queen. Plainly there could be no safe or substantial alliance here. The only other possible alliance that could strengthen and secure Elizabeth against her French-Scotch rival was one with the Spanish Hapsburg. On the part of the Spanish court there could be no real difficulty here, for England was still as fair a prize as ever, and the revolt of the Netherlands made such an alliance not only desirable but almost imperative, if the integrity of the Spanish empire was to be preserved. But two insuperable obstacles arose nearer home. The one was the inclination of Elizabeth herself, who was too much of a Tudor to put herself voluntarily into Spanish leading strings; The other was the temper of her people, who were in no mood to see the Inquisition introduced upon English soil, or the fires of Smith- field rekindled.
Elizabeth was too shrewd to break with either party. What her people needed most was peace ; what she needed most was time to consolidate her strength. As long as either party retained a hope of a final marriage alliance, there could be no war. And so she addressed her woman's wit to playing the coquet; but never did coquet keep her suitors dangling to better purpose. For twenty-six years she managed to tread the narrow path a "haggling, peddling policy," if you will, disgusting and offending even her own tried counselors, whose state- craft was not, after all, as unerring as the woman's instinct but holding all at arm's length, committing herself to none, and having her own way at last, dying as she had lived, the bride of her people.
Here, then, we have the beginning, a hint, at least, of what may be called the British policy. It is not necessary to suppose that there was any conscious purpose on the part of England, or even of Eliza- beth, of cutting loose from the old dynastic policy that had heretofore
