The court did not travel as
much as in the past, but became associated with London. Elizabeth
took her entire court on summer visits to the country houses of
leading nobility and gentry. Courtiers adopted symbolic "devices"
as statements of their reaction to life or events, e.g. a cupid
firing arrows at a unicorn signified chastity under attack by
sexual desire. They carried them enamelled on jewels, had them
painted in the background of their portraits, and sometimes had
them expressed on furniture, plate, buildings, or food.
The authority of the Queen was the authority of the state.
Elizabeth's experience led her to believe that it was most
important for a monarch to have justice, temperance, magnanimity,
and judgment. She claimed that she never set one person before
another, but upon just cause, and had never preferred anyone to
office for the preferrer's sake, but only when she believed the
person worthy and fit for the office. She never blamed those who
did their best and never discharged anyone form office except for
cause. Further, she had never been partial or prejudiced nor had
listened to any person contrary to law to pervert her verdicts.
She never credited a tale that was first told to her and never
corrupted her judgment with a censure before she had heard the
cause. She did not think that the glory of the title of monarch
made all she did lawful. To her, clemency was as eminent in
supreme authority as justice and severity.
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