The chief evidence against Mary arose from the declaration of her secretaries; for no proof could otherwise be produced that the letters from Babington were delivered into her hands, or that any answer was returned by her direction: and the testimony of two witnesses, even though men of character, who knew themselves exposed to all the rigours of imprisonment, torture, and death, if they refused to give any evidence which might be required of them, was by no means conclusive. In order to screen themselves, they might throw the blame on her; but they could discover nothing to her prejudice, without violating the oath of fidelity which they had taken, in consequence of their office; and their perjury in one instancc, rendered them unworthy of credit in another. Besides, they were not confronted with her, though she desired that they might, and affirmed, that they would never, to her face, persist in their evidence.

But the condemnation of the queen of Scots, not justice, was the object of this unprecedented trial; and the sentence, after many hesitations and delays, was carried into execution. Never did Mary appear so great, as in this last scene of her life; she was not only tranquil, but intrepid and magnanimous. When sir Andrew Melvil, the master of her household, who had been excluded for some weeks. from her presence, was permitted to take his last farewell, he burst into tears; bewailing the condition of a mistress whom he loved, as well as his own hard fate, in being appointed to carry into Scotland the news of such a mournful event, as the catastrophe that awaited her. "Weep "not, good Melvil," said she, "there is at present greater

A. D. 1587.

the king of Spain for transferring to him her claim to the English crown, and disinheriting her beretical son; that she had even entered into a conspiracy against James; had appointed lord Claud Hamilton regent of Scotland; and had instigated her adherents to seize James's person, and deliver him into the hands of the pope or the king of Spain; whence he was never to be freed but on condition of his becoming Catholic. See Letter to Charles Paget, May 20, 1586, in Dr. Forbes's Collect. and Murden. p. 506.

66 cause

"

"cause for rejoicing. Thou shalt this day see Mary Stuart "delivered from all her cares, and such an end put to her " tedious sufferings as she has long expected. But witness "that I die constant in my religion, firm in my fidelity to"wards Scotland, and unchanged in my affection to France. "Commend me to my son. Tell him I have done nothing injurious to his kingdom, to his honours, or to his rights; "and God forgive all those who have thirsted without cause "for my blood." On ascending the scaffold, she began, with the aid of her women, to take off her veil and upper garments; and the executioner rudely endeavouring to assist them, she gently checked him, and smiling said, "I have not been "accustomed to undress before so many spectators, nor to "be served by such valets!" and, soon after, laid her head on the block, with calm, but undaunted fortitude4°.

Such, my dear Philip, was the fate of Mary Stuart, queen of Scotland, and dowager of France, one of the most amiable and accomplished of her sex; who, in the forty-fifth year of her age, and the nineteenth of her captivity in England, fell a victim to the jealousy and to the fears of an offended rival. But although Mary's trial was illegal, and her execution arbitrary, history will not permit us to suppose, that her actions were at no time criminal. With all the ornaments both of body and mind, which can embellish the female character, she had many of the weaknesses of a woman; and our sympathy with her long and accumulated sufferings, seen through the medium of her beauty, only perhaps could prevent us from viewing her, notwithstanding

40. La Mort de la Royne d'Escosse, ap. Jebb. Camden. Spotswood. The truth of history forbids me to aunceal, that Mary was supported during this awful catastrophe, by the consolations of a superstitious devotion. After throwing herself upon her knees, and repeating prayers from the Office of the Virgin, she pressed the crucifix to her lips; and then looking upon it, eagerly exclaimed, "O Christ! thou wast extended on the cross to save mankind, when they were lost. Pardon my transgressions, and stretch out thy arms to receive me in mercy." Id. ibid. Stuart, book viii.

her

her elegant qualities, with some degree of that abhorrence which is excited by the pollution of the marriage bed and the guilt of murder41.

Elizabeth, when informed of Mary's execution, affected the utmost surprise and concern. Sighs, tears, lamentations, and weeds of mourning, were all employed to display the greatness of her sorrow. She even undertook to make the world believe, that the queen of Scots, her dear sister and kinswoman, had been put to death without her knowledge, and contrary to her inclination; and to complete this farce, she commanded Davison, her secretary, to be thrown into prison, under pretence that he had exceeded his commission, in dispatching the fatal warrant; which, although she had signed, she never meant to carry into execution42.

This hypocritical disguise was assumed chiefly to appease the young king of Scotland, who seemed determined to employ the whole force of his dominions, in order to revenge his mother's death. He recalled his ambassador from England, refused to admit the English envoy into his presence, and with difficulty condescended to receive a memorial from the queen. Every thing bore the appearance of war. Many

41. All cotemporary authors agree in ascribing to Mary the utmost beauty of countenance and elegance of shape of which the human form is rapable. Her hair was black; though according to the fashion of the times, she frequently wore borrowed locks, and of different colours. Her eyes were a dark gray; her complexion was exquisitely fine; and her hands and arms remarkably delicate, both as to shape and colour. Her stature was of an height that rose to the majestic. She danced, she walked, and rode with equal ease. Her taste for music was just; and she sung sweetly, and played upon the lute with uncommon skill. Robertson, from Brantome.

42. Camden. After thus freely censuring Elizabeth, and shewing the defectiveness of the evidence against Mary, I am bound to own, that it appears from a passage in her letter to Thomas Morgan, dated the 27th of July 1586, that she had accepted Babington's offer to assassinate the English queen. "As to Babington,” says she," he hath kindly and bonestly offered

bimself and all his means to be employed any way i would. Whereupon "I hope to have satisfied bim. by two of my several Lettere, since I had his.” (Murden's Collect. p. 533.) This incontestible evidence puts her guilt beyond all controversy,

of

of his nobility instigated him to take up arms immediately, and the Catholics recommended an alliance with Spain. Elizabeth saw the danger of such a league. After allowing James some decent ieterval to vent his grief and anger, she employed her emissaries to set before him every motive of hope or fear, which might induce him to live in amity with her: and these joined to the queen's dissimulation, and the pacific disposition of that prince, prevailed over his resentment. He fell gradually into a good understanding with the court of England.

While Elizabeth was thus ensuring the tranquillity of her kingdom from the attempts of her nearest neighbour, she was not inattentive to more distant dangers. Hearing that Philip was secretly preparing that prodigious armament which had for its object no less than the entire conquest of England, she sent Sir Francis Drake with a freet to intercept his supplies, to pillage the coasts of his dominions, and destroy his shipping: and that gallant commander, besides other advantages, was so successful as to burn, in the harbour of Cadiz, an hundred vessels laden with ammunition and naval stores. About the same time Thomas Cavendish, à private adventurer, launched into the South Sea in three small ships; committed great depredations on the Spaniards in those parts; took many rich prizes; and returning by the Cape of Good Hope, entered the Thames in a kind of triumph43.

By these fortunate enterprizes the English seamen learned to despise the large unwieldy ships of the enemy, in which chiefly they placed their hopes of success. The naval magazines of Spain were destroyed, and means were taken to prevent Philip from being able suddenly to repair the loss, by an artificial run upon the bank of Genoa, whence he expected a large loan; a measure which was conducted by an English merchant, in conjunction with his foreign correspondents,

43 Monson's Naval Tracts.

1

and

LETTER LXX.

THE GENERAL VIEW OF EUROPE CONTINUED FROM THE ACCESSION OF HENRY IV. TO THE PEACE OF VERVINS, IN 1598.

THE reign of Henry IV. justly styled the Great, forms one of the most memorable epochs in the history of France. The circumstances of the times, the character of the prince and of the man, all conspire to render it interesting: and his connections with other Christian powers, either as allies or enemies, make it an object of general importance. The eyes of all Europe were fixed upon him, as the hero of its military theatre, and the centre of its political system. Philip and Elizabeth were now but secon dary actors.

The prejudices entertained against Henry's religion made one-half of the royal army desert him, on his accession; and it was only by signing certain propositions, favourable to their religion, and promising to listen to the arguments of their doctors, that he could engage any of the catholic nobility to support his title to the crown. The desertion of his troops obliged him to abandon the siege of Paris, and retire into Normandy. Thither he was followed by the forces of the League. These forces were commanded by the duke of Mayenne, who had proclaimed the cardinal of Bourbon king, under the name of Charles X. although that old man, thrown into prison on the assassination of the Guises, was still confined in the castle of Fontenai-le-Compte, in Poitou'

In this extremity, Henry had recourse to the queen of England, and found her well disposed to assist him; to oppose the progress of the Catholic League, and of the king of Spain, her dangerous and inveterate enemy, who entertained views either of dismembering the French monarchy, or of annexing the whole to his own dominions. Consci

I Davila, lib. x. Mezeray, Abrege Chronel, tom, vi.