John Knox: Reformation Rhetoric and the Traditions of Scots Prose 1490-1570 (review)
that the queen’s councilors attempted to pressure her to act, Mears apparently overlooked the Babington Plot, nurtured by Sir Francis Walsingham. Finally, while claiming Elizabeth was not Sir John Neale’s successful monarch, Mears does reject Christopher Haigh’s mean-spirited characterization. Surely, however, Mears incorrectly judges that all Elizabeth’s queenship had going for it was luck and longevity. She does concede that Elizabeth failed to make decisions on some difficult issues, including her marriage, the succession, and Mary Stewart because they “were highly problematic and their remedies equally so” (258). Perhaps Elizabeth realized that the possible solutions would be more troublesome than putting up with the problems and, therefore, helped to make her now-celebrated luck possible. RETHA M. WARNICKE Arizona State University