Greenock, Jan. 16. 1851.
_Scandal against Queen Elizabeth_ (Vol. iii., p. 11.).--An intercepted
letter, apparently from a popish priest, preserved among the Venetian
correspondence in the State Paper Office, gives the following account of
the death-bed of the Queen; which, as illustrative of the observations of
your correspondent CUDYN GYWN, may not be uninteresting:--
"London, 9 Martii, 1603.
"About 10 dayes synce dyed the Countess of Notingham. The Queene loved
the Countess very much, and hath seemed to take her death very
heavelye, remayning euer synce in a deepe melancholye, w^{th} conceipte
of her own death, and complayneth of many infirmyties, sodainlye to
haue ouertaken her, as impost[=u]mecon in her head, aches in her bones,
and continuall cold in her legges, besides notable decay in iudgem^t
and memory, insomuch as she cannot attend to any discourses of
governm^t and state, _but delighteth to heare some of the 100 merry
tales, and such like, and to such is uery attentiue;_ at other tymes
uery impatient, and testye, so as none of the Counsayle, but the
secretary, dare come in her presence."
May we not class this story of her majesty's {152} predilection for the
hundred merry tales among the "black relations of the Jesuits?"