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 shewed 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 fa ther, and thought it her duty to transmit. 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

dreadful convulsions, before it could enjoy legi. timate 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 arisen 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 manu. factures 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.

CHAP. XIII.

The Reign of James I.

1603.

THE HE crown of England passed with A. D. the utmost tranquillity, from the family of Tudor to that of Stuart. In 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 li berally 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. 11.

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to

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

Among the ambassaders 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.

The religious disputes between the church and the puritans, which had continually been increasA. D. ing since the reformation, induced the king to call a conference at Hampton1604. court; 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 London,

London, he found more exercise for his talents, and less success from their exertions.

The principles of liberty, which had sometimes displayed themselves during the reign of his predecessor, having now taken deeper root, were not so easily checked. James, however, made the attempt, and declared to the house, "that all their privileges were derived from his grant, and hoped they would not turn them against him." The commons, in some measure, receded from their pretensions; and though James of his own accord abolished all patents for monopolies, exclusive companies, wardships, and purveyances, remained as a burden upon the people.

An union of the two kingdoms was a favourite object with James, and did honour to his discernment; but the commons opposed it with impolitic zeal, and the business was dropped.

To procure money from the commons was still more difficult, and James, soured with the temper of his parliament, prorogued it with vi sible marks of dissatisfaction. He had the pleasure, however, to conclude a peace with Spain, and therefore supplies were less necessary.

It was at this auspicious juncture of foreign and domestic quiet, that the nation was astonished by the discovery of the "Gunpowder Plot." The catholics, disappointed in their expectations of favour from James, were enraged beyond all measure. Catesby, a gentleman of that persuasion, first thought of an extraordinary method of revenge, which was no other than to blow up the parliament house, when the members should be assembled, and the king opening the session.