He dwells minutely upon all her intrigues, in which she was as petty as in great matters she was grand.

For her rival, Mary Stuart, he had neither respect nor mercy.

To her intellect indeed, which was quite on a par with Elizabeth's, he does full justice.

But neither her beauty nor her wit, neither her scholarship nor her statesmanship, neither her passion nor her courage, could blind him to her selfishness, her immorality, and the fact that she represented the Catholic cause.

His account of her execution certainly lacks sentiment, and Mrs.Norton accused him of writing like a disappointed lover.