Division kindled strife
Blest union quenched the flame:
Thence sprang our noble Phoenix dear,
The peerless prince of fame.

The Norwich City Gate, 1578

"VAIN" BUT "VERY ACUTE" was the shrewd judgment of one
observer of the new Queen upon the eve of her coronation.
Elizabeth needed to be both exceptionally acute and extraor-
dinarily vain to imagine that a mere woman, whose intellec-
tual accomplishments in a male society were neatly placed in
perspective by the aphorism "but can she spin?," could ever
infuse new life into the dying carcass of state. Within days of
her accession the Queen made the effort. In words as rich with
charm and promise as any she ever spoke, Elizabeth pro-
nounced the guiding principle of her reign: "I shall desire you
all, my lords (chiefly you of the nobility, everyone in his degree
and power) to be assistant to me that I with my ruling and you
with your service may make a good account to Almighty God
and leave some comfort to our posterity in earth."

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