In temper Elizabeth was arbitrary, fickle, and passionate. When her
blood was up, she would swear like a trooper, spit on a courtier's new
velvet suit, beat her maids of honor, and box Essex's ears. She wrote
abusive and even profane letters to high Church dignitaries,[1] and
she openly insulted the wife of Archbishop Parker, because she did not
believe in a married clergy.
[1] For the famous letter to the bishop of Ely attributed to
Elizabeth, see Hallam's "Constitutional History of England," Froude,
or Creighton; but the "Dictionary of National Biography" ("Elizabeth")
calls it a forgery.
The age in which Elizabeth reigned was preeminently one of craft and
intrigue. The Kings of that day endeavored to get by fraud what their
less polished predecessors got by force. At this game of double
dealing Elizabeth had few equals and no superior. So profound was her
dissimulation that her most confidential advisers never felt quite
sure that she was not deceiving them. In her diplomatic relations she
never hesitated at an untruth if it would serve her purpose, and when
the falsehood was discovered, she always had another and more
plausible one ready to take its place. In all this her devotion to
England stands out unquestioned and justifies the saying, "She lived
and lied for her country."