_Henry of Navarre Accepts Catholicism He is Acknowledged King of France (A.D. 1593)_, 276 MAXIMILIEN DE BÉTHUNE, DUC DE SULLY
_Culmination of Dramatic Literature in Hamlet (A.D. 1601)_, 287 JAMES O. HALLIWELL-PHILLIPPS
_Downfall of Irish Liberty "Flight of the Earls" (A.D. 1603)_, 299 JUSTIN M'CARTHY
_The Gunpowder Plot (A.D. 1605)_, 310 SAMUEL R. GARDINER
_Cervantes' Don Quixote Reforms Literature (A.D. 1605)_, 325 HENRY EDWARD WATTS
_Earliest Positive Discovery of Australia (A.D. 1606)_, 340 LOUIS BECKE WALTER JEFFERY
_Settlement of Virginia (A.D. 1607) Charter under which America was Colonized_, 350 R. R. HOWISON
_Founding of Quebec (A.D. 1608) Champlain Establishes French Power in Canada_, 366 H. H. MILES
_Universal Chronology (A.D. 1558-1608)_, 387 JOHN RUDD
_Murder of the favorite, Rizzio, at the feet of Mary Stuart, by her husband and associate conspirators (page 56)_, Frontispiece Painting by Eug. Siberdt.
_Catharine de' Medici, accompanied by her suite, issues from the gate of the Louvre the morning after the Massacre of St. Bartholomew_, 142 Painting by Ed. Debat-Ponsan.
TRACING BRIEFLY THE CAUSES, CONNECTIONS, AND CONSEQUENCES
Philip II succeeded his father Charles V on the throne of Spain. The vast extent of his domains, the absoluteness of his authority, and, above all, the enormous wealth that poured into his coffers from the Spanish conquests in America, made him the most powerful monarch of his time, the central figure of the age. It was largely because of Philip's personal character that the great religious struggle of the Reformation entered upon a new phase, became far more sinister, more black and deadly, extended over all Europe, and bathed the civilized world in blood. England stood forth as the centre of opposition against Philip, and under the unwilling leadership of Elizabeth entered on its epic period of heroism, was stimulated to that remarkable outburst of energy and intellect and power which we call the Elizabethan age.
Philip, with a tenacity of purpose from which no fortune good or bad could lure him for a moment, pursued two objects throughout his reign (1555-1598), the reëstablishment of Catholicism over all Europe, and the extension so far as might be of his own personal authority. If we consider his personal ambition, we must count his reign a failure; for at his death his country had already fallen from its foremost rank in Europe and started on that process of decay which in later centuries has become so marked. If, however, we look to Philip's religious purpose, it is undeniable that during his reign Catholicism revived. Philip II, the Jesuits, the Council of Trent--these three were the powers by means of which the Roman Church beat back its foes, saved itself from what for a time had seemed a threatened extinction, and so far reëstablished its power that for over a century it appeared not improbable that Philip's purpose of reuniting Europe might be accomplished.