or with her Secretaries, or artfully got from the French Ambaffadors: amongft which was one to Mendoza, promifing to give and grant unto his malter, the King of Spain, her right and ti ⚫tle to the crown of England after her own death by infifting that the cypher had been forged to her difadvantage. And as to the confeffions of her Secretaries, &c. fhe declared they were entirely falfe: and complained of being denied the right of feeing her accufers face to face. Yet, though the would never be brought to confels any knowledge of the intention to take away Elifabeth's life, fhe did, at laft, drop certain conceffions, which plainly convicted her of plotting with the papifts in England, and that she had tried all things abroad to procure her own liberty. Then the Lord Treafurer put her in mind, That Morgan, her vaffal, fent Parry into England to kill the Queen and that the ftill allowed him a penfion which was infinuating, That the was concerned in Parry's plot, and had harboured intentions of taking away Elifabeth's life. To which the replied, Ah! you are my adverfary. Yes, faid he, I am adverfary to all Queen Elifabeth's ene mies. : The Queen, after this, made a long fpeech in her own juftification: in which the inveighed against thofe that kept her prifoner for twelve years; and against the authority of the court where fhe is tried: denied every allegation brought against her for accomplishing Elifabeth's death accufed Walfingham of forging her letter to Babington: rejects the evidence of Babington, &c. as infufficient, and extorted by torture; and of her Secretaries, as guilty of perjury, fhould they difclofe her fecrets, Thould their teftimony be 'true and of the most monftrous ingratitude for impeaching her innocence with fuch horrid crimes: charged the lawyers with great irregularities, and with diftorting juftice, in order to take away her life: defended her attempts and follicitations for regaining her liberty; and declared that the neither ought nor would, thenceforward, refufe the aid of other Kings; and then concluded with an appeal unto God for the juftice of her caufe. Then the Commiffioners prorogued their court till the 25th of October, to meet in the Star-chamber, at Westminster. At which time and place all the Commiffionerà met, except the Earls of Shrew foury and Warwick, being fick; and, tho feveral of them were popijh Lords (as Thuanus informs us) they found Mary Queen of Scots guilty of the impeach ment, above recited, and ratified her sentence of death, under their hands and feals. Thus, as Du Maurier writes, 'Q Mary was the cause of her own ruin by her reftlefs temper, and her repeated defigns against Queen Elifa beth's life.' This fentence was approved of by the Parliament, on the 29th of the fame month, as juft, true, and honourable, after long deliberation upon the fpecial evidences laid before them; who petitioned the Queen, befeeching her to order it to be put in execution. But tho' this petition fet forth the danger to which Elifabeth and the Realm were expofed, fo long as the Queen of Scots fhould be permitted to live, Elifabeth was very unwilling to proceed in any manner as to make Mary's death her own act; fhe, after thanking them for the care they expreffed towards herself and the nation, told them in what a ftrait fhe was, in this matter; and how much she was troubled, that the life of the Queen of Scots fhould be incompatible with her own, and the good of the kingdom; and then concludes: 'I pray and conjure you to content yourfelves with an answer, without an anfwer: I approve your judgment, and comprehend the reafons: But I pray you excufe the careful and the doubtful thought, which doth torment me; and take in good part the gracious affection which I bear you; and this anfwer, if it be of that worth, that you eftcem it for an anfwer. If I fay I will not do what you demand, peradventure I fhall 6 say fay more than I think: If I fay I will grant it, then I precipitate my ⚫ felf into that ruin you are willing to preferve me from.' Immediately after this anfwer, the Parliament was prorogued; and a few days after the prorogation, Lord Buckburft and Beal, Clerks of the Council, were fent to notify to the Queen of Scots, that her Judges had condemned her to die; that the Parliament had confirmed their fentence, and addressed the Queen for a speedy execution thereof; believe ing that the religion in England could not fubfift, fhould fhe remain alive. She received this meffage with great firmness of mind; and even triumphed that religion was the cause of her death: and then, with some emotion, said, 'It is no wonder if the English, who have often put their own Sovereigns to death, should treat, in the same manner, a Princess sprung from the blood ⚫ of their Kings." : The Earls of Shrewsbury, Kent, Derby, Cumberland, &c. were commiffioned to fee her put to death, in Fortheringay Caftle, on the 8th of February, 1587; where a scaffold was erected, at the upper end of the hall, furnished with a chair, a cufhion, and a block. To which, being conducted by two Earls, and the Sheriff of the county; and attended by Melvin, who held up her train; Burgoin, her Phyfician, the Apothecary, Surgeon, two women, and fome other fervants. She walked with great majefty, and being feated in the chair covered with black, and filence commanded, Beale read the commission. After that, the prayed in her own form with her fervants, with a crucifix in her hand, and invoked the Saints to intercede for her: fhe publickly forgave her enemies, and her executioner, who begged her pardon: fhe kiffed her women, and figned them with the cross, as they made the mournful hall eccho with their fhrieks and cries, while they helped her to undrefs; and with a chearful countenance, defired them, and her other friends, to cease lamenting, forafmuch as now all her forrows were at an end. Then veiling her face with a linen cloth, the laid down on the block, stretched out her body, and, after fhe had frequently repeated In manus tuas, Domine, commendo fpiritum meum, i. e. Into thy hands, O Lord, I commend my Spirit, her head was cut off, at two blows. At which Dr. Fleetwood, fome read it Dr. Fletcher, Dean of Peterborough, who was ordered to attend on the occafion, cried out, So let the enemies of Queen Elifabeth perish; to which the Earl of Kent faid Amen. How Queen Elifabeth managed to clear herself of the adium of caufing this Queen, her coufin, to be put to death, will be remarked hereafter. (To be continued.) A Letter from Paris, relating to the prefent Contest between the King and the Clergy. T HE proteft of the Bishops in the affembly of the Clergy, a gainst the exorbitant demands of this crown; and the Letter de Cachet, by which they are separated, and fent each one to his refpective diocefe; have caufed great fpeculation in a realm, whofe King is dignified with the title of moft Chriftian. The Court certainly expected an implicit obedience to her demands, and doubted not of the fuccefs, which hitherto has been produced by her threats. But things have taken a new turn; and only the most obfequious Clergy, beyond all fufpicion, have the refolution to maintain fome appearance of that ancient liberty, which formerly limited the ambition of their Sovereigns, till it has, of late years, been bafely betrayed and given up by the pufillanimity of our Parliaments. In the mean time the Ministry is greatly embarraffed. To drop an affair fo lucrative, which would turn out of fo great advantage to the finances, could it be effected; and set such a bad bad example of difobedience and contempt of the royal mandate, if paffed over in filence, is quite contrary to the political maxims on this fide of the water and yet, it is not wifdom to proceed to extremities, and to break abruptly and entirely with fo powerful and neceffary a body, as the Clergy is under a defpotic government. Therefore new engines are employed, and the Statesmen feem to be fure, either by promifes of preferment, tranflations, or other advantages to the Ecclefiafticks, or to their families; or by ftigmatifing them with ingratitude, and threatening them with the last extremities the law can inflict on thofe that perfift in contempt of arbitrary power; to gain over to their will thofe members now feparated, whofe refolution they could not fhake, fo long as they conti- ̧ nued in a body. But it is the opinion of fome, that this won't prove fo easy a task, as apprehended; the Church having taken the alarm, that the Crown, by fo narrowly fearching into her neat revenues, has formed a defign, fomething like that in England, by Henry VIII, to feize on them, whenever the exigencies' of the ftate may require it, or other circumftances may concur to bring about their diffolution. And I am the more confirmed in this opinion by the abftract of a letter from one of the Bifhops in Upper Languedoc, who has been applied to, I fuppofe, with some of the Cardinal's vehement rhetoric, and concludes in this manner: A Bishop, who difcharges his duty, who loves refidence,and who is void of Court-ambition, dreads none of thofe things you mention. If I confider you, as a Cardinal, I owe you nothing; as a Bishop; I am your fenior, and, as a Chriftian, I am accountable to none 6 6 6 your heavenly intereft. I never will Adieu. Another undaunted Prelate, who feems to have been preffed hard to a compliance by fome favourite relation at Court, upon a fuppofition, That the Clergy's obitinacy tends to the ruin of the flate,retorts upon him,by obferving, That, if the ftate is in real danger, its ruin does certainly begin at Court, whofe infatiable avarice, injuftice, rapine, ill treatment of Allies and conquered nations, are the feeds from. whence all their neceffities fpring.. For, has it not been often found, that the moment any one grows paf-, fionately fond of magnificence, grand, equipage, fine furniture, plenty and elegance in eating and drinking; it is a natural confequence, that he will fet no bounds to his love of money,. • without which he can't procure the. objects of his defires? This was the ruin of the Lacedemonians, and of the Romans, in a more eminent manner; who, according to the belt Hiftorians,, "were ruined by their avarice, which, prompted the Rulers to rob the people; and their avarice arofe from ri-, ches and luxury. A nation, dear. Coufin! prompted by thefe vices, < may be compared to a woman paft child-bearing, and has ceafed to bring forth great Men: and, if it ftill ⚫ fubfifts for fome time longer, it fhall: be only in confequence, and by means of its ancient grandeur, which continue to fupport the commonweal, notwithstanding the weakness and vices of its Governors. What noble fenti-, ments, what magnanimity in the two Scipio's, in Fabius,and in Paulus Amilius? Did these ancient Romans fet 6 any value upon money ? When Pyrrhus endeavoured to corrupt the Senate by presents, was there one fin but God. It is his Tribunal alonegle perfon in the city tempted to re I daily endeavour to render propiti ceive them? The cafe was much al ous; you and I must soon appear be-tered in the time of Jugurtha, who 'fore it. Let us beware, we may not find fo much favour there, as here • before men. I ferve God and the King: I fear you prefer the ar Sovereign on earth to ' a mean and fordid avarice (yet not 'fo mean as to thirft after the revenues of the priesthood) that when he was 'forced to leave Rome, turning his eyes back upon it from time to time, 'he called it a city ready to be fold to the highest bidder, and only wanted a purchaser. So long as a noble difinterested'nefs lafted, they, who had the com'mand of the troops, and the govern even now, nothing but the melancholy prefage of a finking state, under "the weight of its avaricious managers, 'could make us refift this last shock. • Have not all the provinces groaned? 'Don't all kingdoms loudly complain ' of the violences and incroachments ' of our Ministry? In the large extent ' of the countries we poffefs on this 'fide; and beyond the ocean,there is no place fo remote, whither the avarice ment of the provinces, inftead of of our Admirals, Generals, Gover"feeking to enrich themselves with the nors, and inferior Magiftrates, have fpoils of their Allies or conquered not penetrated and made us odious. people, looked upon themfelves as "Therefore, dear Coufin! inform those their fathers and guardians. And it 'who employed you, and furnished was the principle of our forefathers you with fo fallacious an argument to conquer lefs by force of arms than to me, That, if they will lend a hand benefits; and to prefer the gaining of effectually to root out all the above"friends before the making of flaves. It mentioned vices, they will find the acwould redound much more to our cre- ⚫ cuftomary resources abundantly fuffidit to become protectors, rather than. cient to fupport the dignity, and to de'mafters of the world: and to per-. 'fend the rights of the Crown, and to 'form our oaths and treaties of 6 peace protect its Allies against all their enewith inviolable juftice and fidelity, mies, without thefe oppreffive measures, ' rather than by any means to raise mo- ' which border upon facrilege. I will al"ney to fupport an unfatiable ambitiways abide by our bleffed Saviour's after univerfal monarchy. command, to render unto Cæfar the things that be Cæfar's; and unto God the things that be God's. on How is it you lay fuch a heavy charge against the Clergy, when they are the very laft that complain? And The Art of Sheering, Working, and Preffing WOOLLEN CLOTH With a Copper-plate representing each of thofe Trades at Work. Pannarius having obliged us with the remaining Part of the Woollen Manufactu ry, which has been fo well approved of by our Readers, we return him our Thanks, and fhall now refume that useful and most profitable Art, at the Branch where we were obliged, for Want of Opportunity, to break off in his laft Letter. See Vol. V. page 180. Wed HEN a fluff or clotb is intended to be thickened, and to be made more or lefs nappy, it is carried to the fulling-mill to thicken its warp, by ftrongly preffing the hairs of the woof, which are always found in fome degree after weaving, be the wool never fo fine; and being faftened within the body of the ftuff, ftand with their fharp ends outwards. It is the Fuller, who, properly fpeaking, gives the cloths their real fubftance: his art being to add the advantage of felting to the regularity of weaving, 3 and to cleanse the stuff perfectly. None but cloths require the first operation; all cloths and fluffs require the latter. The firft is performed by a mill, in which the cloths are beaten with hammers, while the water runs continually over them, till they are reduced to their proper breadth, and thoroughly cleanfed from all impurities. The fecond is no more than a dry beating, after the ftuff has been judiciously fmeared with Fullers-earth, which is an abforbent matter, proper to extract all the umetuous juices: and, as occa |