THOUGH in a sense the product of many years' study of Eliza-
bethan history, this biography has been written for a parti-
cular occasion and a particular public. The occasion is the fourth
centenary of Queen Elizabeth's birth; the public is the body of
lay men and women interested in a great historical personality. I
have therefore removed the elaborate scaffolding of documentary
authority used in the construction of the book. Some readers will
no doubt regret the absence of references and apparatus criticus.
I am conscious that it limits the usefulness of the work in one di-
rection, but hope that it will extend it in another.

Elizabeth's life-story is notorious for its bewildering problems.
Even among scholars, whose judgment, through long familiarity
with the strange, deceptive idiom of sixteenth-century history,
commands respect, there is room for difference of opinion. I can
only say that I believe in the solutions adopted in this book. They
are honest and considered judgments based upon careful study of
the original authorities and reflection on the views of other writers.
For bibliographical guidance the reader is referred to Dr. Conyers
Read's Bibliography of British History, Tudor Period, the public-
ation of which saves me from occupying space with a very lengthy
list of books.

It remains to express my warm thanks to those friends who in
many ways--and not least in bearing with an overdose of "Eliza-
beth" in conversation--have helped me with my work. I am in-
debted especially to Professor R. W. Chambers and Dr. Ing. I can
best thank my wife for her unstinted help by remarking that I
now understand why a wife almost always figures in a preface.
I once thought it convention!

J. E. NEALE

University College,
London

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