interfere. There are a great many letters of the Queen of Scots at
Simancas, some of them of the deepest interest. She remains the same
as I have always thought her--brilliant, cruel, ruthless, and
perfectly unfeeling."

Although Froude's admiration for Elizabeth steadily diminished with
the progress of his researches, even students of his History will be
surprised by such a verdict as this:

"I am slowly drawing to the end of my long journey through the
Records. By far the largest part of Burghley's papers is here [in
the Record Office], and not at Hatfield. The private letters which
passed between him and Walsingham about Elizabeth have destroyed
finally the prejudice that still clung to me that, notwithstanding
her many faults, she was a woman of ability. Evidently in their
opinion she had no ability at all worth calling by the name."

Two or three extracts will complete the part of this correspondence
which deals with the composition of the History. "I have been
incessantly busy in the Record Office since my return to London. The
more completely I examine the MSS. elsewhere the better use I shall
be able to make of yours. I have still two months of this kind
before me, and my intention, if you did not yourself write to me
first, was to ask you to let me go to Hatfield for a week or two
about Easter."

"I am now sufficiently master of the story to be able to make very
good (I daresay complete) use of the Hatfield papers in my present
condition. I feel as if there were very few dark places left in
Queen Elizabeth's proceedings anywhere. I substantially end, in a