the change which ensued was not owing to her nature, but to the necessity of the times.

The greatest proof of her constancy in religion and religious worship is, that notwithstanding Popery, which in her sister's reign had been strenuously established by public. authority and the utmost diligence, began now to take deep root, and was confirmed by the consent and zeal of all those in office and places of trust; yet because it was not agreeable to the Word of God, nor to the primitive purity, nor to her own conscience, she, with much courage and with very few helps, extirpated and abolished it. Nor did she do this precipitantly or in a heat, but prudently and seasonably, as may appear from many particulars, and among the rest from a certain answer she occasionally made; for upon her first accession to the throne, when the prisoners, according to custom, were released, as she went to chapel, a courtier, who took a more than ordinary freedom, whether of his own motion or set on by a wiser head, delivered a petition into her hand, and in a great concourse of people, said aloud, "That there were still four or five prisoners unjustly detained, that he came to petition for their liberty as well as the rest, and these were the four Evangelists and the Apostle St. Paul, who had been long imprisoned in an unknown tongue, and not suffered to converse with the people." The queen answered with great prudence, "That it was best to consult them first, whether they were willing to be released or no." And by thus striking a surprising question with a wary, doubtful answer, she reserved the whole matter entirely in her own breast.

Nor yet did she introduce this alteration timorously, and by fits and starts, but orderly, gravely, and maturely; after a conference betwixt the parties, and calling a parliament; and thus, at length, within the compass of one year, she so ordered and established all things belonging to the church, as not to suffer the least alteration afterwards, during her reign. Nay, almost every session of parliament, her public admonition was, that no innovation might be made in the discipline or rites of the church. And thus much for her religion.

Some of the graver sort may, perhaps, aggravate her levi ties; in loving to be admired and courted, nay, and to have

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THE PRAISE OF

HENRY, PRINCE OF WALES.

HENRY, prince of Wales, eldest son of the king of Great Britain, happy in the hopes conceived of him, and now happy in his memory, died on the 6th of November, 1612, to the extreme concern and regret of the whole kingdom, being a youth who had neither offended nor satiated the minds of men. He had by the excellence of his disposition excited high expectations among great numbers of all ranks; nor had through the shortness of his life disappointed them. One capital circumstance added to these was the esteem in which he was commonly held of being firm to the cause of religion and men of the best judgment were fully persuaded that his life was a great support and security to his father from the danger of conspiracies; an evil against which our age has scarce found a remedy; so that the people's love of religion and the king overflowed to the prince; and this consideration deservedly heightened the sense of the loss of him. His person was strong and erect; his stature of a middle size; his limbs well made; his gait and deportment majestic; his face long and inclining to leanness; his habit of body full; his look grave, and the motion of his eyes. rather composed than spirited. In his countenance were some marks of severity, and in his air some appearance of haughtiness. But whoever looked beyond these outward circumstances, and addressed and softened him with a due respect and seasonable discourse, found the prince to be gracious and easy, so that he seemed wholly different in con versation from what he was in appearance, and in fact raised in others an opinion of himself very unlike what his manner would at first have suggested. He was unquestionably ambitious of commendation and glory, and was strongly affected by every appearance of what is good and honourable, which in a young man is to be considered as virtue. Arms and military men were highly valued by him; and he breathed himself something warlike. He was much devoted

question or remark, saw it to be ful to the purpose, and

value of his youth in the highest fortune, and in a vigorous a. In is out no sersen was observed to have any

to the magnificence of buildings and works of all kinds though in other respects rather frugal; and was a lover both of antiquity and arts. He showed his esteem of learning in general more by the countenance which he gave to it, than by the time which he spent in it. His conduct in respect of torals did him the utmost honour; for he was thought exact in the knowledge and practice of every duty. His obedience to the king his father was wonderfully strict and exemplary: towards the queen he behaved with the highest reverence: to las brother he was indulgent; and had an entire affection tóc has sister, whom he resembled in person as much as that al' a towąjć men would the beauty of a virgin. The instructors Za power yours Asch rarely happens) continued high

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In the daily business of life, and dle bitence à has or the several offices of it, he was Yer Allodule and wguler than is usual at his age. His

of the greatest length; and this with unwearied attention, so that his mind seldom wandered from the subject, or seemed fatigued, but he applied himself wholly to what was said or done, which (if his life had been lengthened) promised a very superior degree of prudence. There were indeed in the prince some things cbscure, and not to be discovered by the sagacity of any person, but by time only. which was denied him; but what appeared were excellent, which is sufficient for his fame.

He died in the nineteenth year of his age, of an obstinate fever, which during the summer, through the excessive heat and dryness of the season, unusual to islands, had been epidemical, though not fatal, but in autumn became more mortal. Fame, which, as Tacitus says, is more tragical with respect to the deaths of princes, added a suspicion of poison: but as no signs of this appeared, especially in his stomach, which uses to be chiefly affected by poison, this report soon vanished.

THE BEGINNING

OF THE

HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN.

By the decease of Elizabeth, queen of England, the issues of King Henry the Eighth failed, being spent in one generation, and three successions. For that king, though he were one of the goodliest persons of his time, yet he left only by his six wives three children, who, reigning successively, and dying childless, made place to the line of Margaret, his eldest sister, married to James the Fourth, king of Scotland. There succeeded therefore to the kingdom of England, James the Sixth, then king of Scotland, descended of the same Margaret both by father and mother: so that by a rare event in the pedigrees of kings, it seemed as if the Divine Providence, to extinguish and take away all envy and note of a stranger, had doubled upon his person, within the circle of one age, the