given him a ring as a pledge of her affection; assuring him that into whatever disgrace he might happen to fall, if he sent her this token of regard, she would immediately afford him a patient bearing, and lend a favourable ear to his apology. Essex had reserved this precious gift to the last extremity; but after his condemnation, he resolved to make the experiment,, and sent it by the countess of Nottingham to the queen. The countess, at the instigation of her husband, the mortal enemy of Essex, failed to execute her commission; and the queen, ascribing the neglect to his invincible obstinacy, at last signed the warrant for his death. Lady Nottingham, however, falling into a dangerous sickness, and stung with remorse for her conduct, having obtained a visit from the queen, revealed to her majesty the fatal secret. Elizabeth burst into frantic passion; and, shaking the dying countess in her bed, cried out "God may pardon you; but I never can.”

From this moment, the queen fell into the deepest and most incurable melancholy; refused either food or medicine, and, throwing herself on the floor, remained in that state ten days, and as many nights, uttering only groans and sighs; deaf to consolation, and averse to attention.

Her end was now visibly approaching; and her council being assembled, commissioned the lord keeper, admiral, and secretary, to know her majesty's pleasure with regard to a successor. With a faint voice she replied, that" she had held a royal sceptre, and required no other than a royal successor;" and being requested by Ceeil to explain herself more particularly, she sub

joined, "she would have a king to succeed her; and who should that be, but her nearest kinsman the king of Scots?"

Soon after, her voice failed, and her senses were lost; and falling into a lethargic slumber, she gently expired, in the seventieth year of her age, and the forty-ninth of her reign.

So dark was the cloud which overspread the evening of that day, whose meridian lustre had dazzled the eyes of Europe. Yet, though we give Elizabeth full credit for vigour, firmness, penetration, and address, we in vain look for those qualities which are calculated to command our love. Her heroism was, indeed, exempt from rashness, her frugality from avarice, and her activity from the turbulence of ambition; but the rivalship of beauty, the desire of admiration, the jealousy of love, and the sallies of anger, sullied the perfection of her character; and showed that she was still a woman, but without the amiability of her sex. As a queen, however, her conduct was in general praise-worthy, and her fame unalloyed. She consulted the happiness of her people, as far as her ideas of prerogative would allow, and their security and defence were never placed in abler hands. Her ministers were selected with great judgment and discrimination; and if her favourites were not always the most worthy, she took care that their vices or follies should not injure her subjects.

The maxims of her government were highly arbitrary, but these she inherited from her father, and thought it her duty to transmit. A well regulated constitutional balance was not yet established; and we shall find in the sequel, that it cost the nation many struggles, and some

dreadful convulsions, before it could enjoy legitimate liberty, and render prerogative subservient to the general welfare of the community.

Elizabeth's economy was a remarkable trait in her character; and it seems to have arrisen from the noblest principle-the love of independence. It is difficult to ascertain the exact amount of her revenue; but it certainly fell short of half a million a year. If we compute that the supplies granted her by parliament, in a reign of forty-five years, were in the aggregate three millions, we shall probably be not far from the truth; and when it is considered what she accomplished with this apparently trivial sum, we shall have reason to applaud that example of her frugal administration, and to wish that it had been perpetually observed.

In a word, when we contemplate the glories of Elizabeth's reign, we forget the foibles incident to humanity. Under her, the navy was raised to a height never known before; and the bravery and skill of her captains, have never been excelled. Navigation and commerce were encouraged, or rather established; and manufactures and elegant arts were brought to some degree of perfection.

Learning, however, did not find her a munificent patron, though her own acquirements were of no ordinary cast. Spenser, the most inventive of English poets, who has immortalized her memory, was long neglected; and after the death of his patron, sir Philip Sydney was suffered to languish in indigence and obscurity.

CHAP. XIII.

The Reign of James I.

HE crown of England passed with

THE

the utmost tranquillity, from the family of Tudor to that of Stuart. In

A. D.

1603.

James's journey from Edinburgh, all ranks of people flocked around him; and so well was he pleased with the proofs he received of the affections of his people, that in the first six weeks after his accession, he conferred the honour of knighthood on no fewer than two hundred and thirty-seven persons, besides raising several from inferior to higher dignities; and among the rest, his Scottish courtiers were thought to be too liberally noticed.

It must be confessed, however, that James left almost all the great offices in the hands of Elizabeth's ministers. Among these, Cecil was successively raised to the dignity of lord Effingdon, viscount Cranbourne, and earl of Salisbury, and regarded as premier and chief counsellor; but his former associates, sir Walter Raleigh, lord Grey, and lord Cobham, were discountenanced on account of the animosity they had shown against the unfortunate earl of Essex, who had, in some measure, fallen a martyr to his zeal in James's cause.

In the year 1589, James, much against the will of Elizabeth, had espoused Anne, princess of Denmark, by whom he had several children. Thus, the doubts of a succession which had so long tormented the English, were now removed to a considerable distance, and were only liable VOL. XX.

P

to be revived by those vicissitudes, from which the human condition is never exempt.

Among the ambassadors who came to compliment the king on his accession, was the duke of Sully, prime minister of Henry the fourth of France, who proposed to James, to join in a league with Venice and the United States, for the attack of the Austrian dominions; but the ruling passion of the king of England was peace, and he declined to enter into any engagements which could disturb it.

Yet James was not long permitted to enjoy that tranquillity which he loved. A conspiracy was soon discovered; the object of which was to place Arabella Stuart, a near relation of the king's and equally descended from Henry the seventh, on the throne. Sir Walter Raleigh was one of the principals in this plot; and, though he was convicted on incompetent evidence, he was only reprieved, not pardoned, and lay many years a prisoner in the tower.

A. D.

The religious disputes between the church and the puritans, which had continually been increasing sinee the reformation, induced the 1604. king to call a conference at Hamptoncourt; but James being already prejudiced against the puritanical principles of the Scots, he declared himself on the side of the established church, and often repeated his favourite maxim, NO BISHOP, NO KING.

The learning and eloquence of James were not contemptible; but the one was tinctured with pedantry, the other with affectation. He had succeeded very well among theologians; but when a parliament was called, which had been delayed some time on account of a dreadful plague in