Introduction

In a poem probably written in the late 1560s, Elizabeth I complains that the anticipation of future evils undermines present happiness. Looking to a future when ambitious eyes would be ‘unsealed by worthy wights / Whose foresight falsehood fi nds’, Elizabeth uses anxieties about the seditious infl uence of Mary Queen of Scots to justify her own plans to secure her reign. The two female monarchs are poised to impose their different political wills on the future of the British kingdoms. By exercising political foresight, Elizabeth can also prevent treacherous intent from developing into civil war. The queen’s ‘rusty sword’, now in abeyance, will soon swing into action against the ‘seditious sects’ and ‘daughter of debate’ to preserve her subjects’ faith as well as the ‘future joy’ of her own rule. The performative function of the monarch’s promises makes this poetic meditation on the future into a declaration of policy. Elizabeth’s power gives her intuitions about the future a nearly prophetic status.