It would help to know the answers for these. Any help? Elizabeth had grown up amidst the liberal culture of Henry's court, a bold horsewoman, a good shot, a graceful dancer, a skilled musician, and an accomplished scholar. She studied every morning and could "rub up her rusty Greek" as needed. The new literature which was springing up around her found constant welcome in her court. She spoke Italian and French as fluently as her mother tongue; she was familiar with Ariosto and Tasso and listened with delight to the writings of "Master Spenser."

Her moral temper recalled in its strange contrasts the mixed blood within her veins. She was at once the daughter of Henry VIII and Ann Boleyn. From her father she inherited her frank and hardy address, her courage and self-confidence; her pride and furious outbursts of anger also came from the Tudor blood. Her sensuous and self-indulgent nature she inherited from Ann. Splendor and pleasure were with Elizabeth the very air she breathed. She loved gaiety, laughter, and wit. Her vanity remained even to old age, the vanity of a coquette.

It was no wonder that statesmen whom she outwitted held Elizabeth I almost to the last to be little more than a frivolous woman. But the Elizabeth whom they saw was far from being all of Elizabeth. The willfulness of Henry and the triviality of Ann played over the surface of a nature as hard as steel, a purely intellectual temperament. Her vanity and caprice had no weight whatever with her in state affairs. The coquette of the presence-chamber became the coolest and hardest of politicians at the council-board. It was this part which gave her her marked superiority over the statesmen of her time. No nobler group of ministers ever gathered round the council-board than those of Elizabeth. But she was the instrument of none. She listened, she weighed, she used or put by the counsels of each in turn, but her policy, as a whole, was she own. It was a policy of good sense, not genius. She endeavored to keep her throne, keep England out of war, and restore civil and religious order.

1. The author would probably describe Elizabeth as

(A) complex and calculating

(B) reticent and self-effacing

(c)tyrannical and imperious

(D) ruthless and dangerous

(E) visionary and quixotic

2.

According to the passage, the statesmen who advised Elizabeth

(A) were concerned mainly with their own political ambitions

(B) underestimated her ability as a leader
(C) were jealous of her intellectual superiority

(D) dictated the policies of her government
(E) were members of the Tudor royal family

3.

The author's attitude toward Elizabeth might best be described

as

(A) critical and judgmental

(B) detached and scholarly

(C) sympathetic and admiring

(D) ironic and amused

(E) condemnatory and harsh

4. The author's main purpose is to

(A) describe an interesting personality

(B) discuss the events of a historical period

(C) criticize the policies of a political leader

(D) illustrate the shortcomings of an absolute monarchy

(E) provide a family history