I mentioned Bacon's In Felicem Memoriam Elizabethæ, a short memorial/apology/analysis of the Queen's life by one of the most intelligent men of the age, written in 1609, six years after her death. On first reading, I did not realize how remarkable a document it is.
Part of the problem is that most of us are reduced to reading James Spedding's English translation (the linked document). Spedding does not quite capture the force of Bacon's Latin.
In Felicem is a tour-de-force, an extended conceit that casts Elizabeth's life and successes as felicitous—that is to say, both happy and lucky.
Bacon is not skimping in his praise of the queen's wisdom and temperance. Even for her persecution of papists he finds politic reasons. But at root, he says that Elizabeth was fortunate.
One has to think that this is a rationalization. A woman, even an exceptional woman, can not be expected to rule well, but Elizabeth (for the most part) did. How can this be explained? It must have been good fortune. That it was the good fortune of England as well as of the Queen, Bacon does not doubt; but the aberration, he implies, is merely happy chance.
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