Note 156 — Chapter V · 1558-1565

When Elizabeth visited the University of Cambridge on her autumn progress, she declined, in consequence of want of time, to attend a theatrical performance offered to her by the students. Before she reached her next stopping-place she was persuaded to alter her mind, and she returned to witness the play. To her annoyance the imprisoned Catholic bishops were lampooned upon the stage with much sacrilegious buffoonery, whereupon “the Queen was so angry that she at once rose and entered her own chamber, using very strong language, and the torchbearers, it being night, left them in the dark, and so ended this scandalous representation.”—Spanish Calendar, vol. i. 375, Guzman to the Duchess of Parma.