would you not, after all, confefs they might very eafily be defended, even in this point too? But I fhall wave that; I am fatisfied with the care univer fal cuftom has taken of them; and as feamen in a ftorm, to preserve their things of greatest value, throw away those of lefs; fo I am very well pleased that mankind fhould be expofed to the hazards of war, whilft the fair- fex is preferved in fafety at home, whofe fmiles are the nobleft reward a brave man can defic for all the hazards and fatigues he has endured in a campaign. But it is generally agreed that all virtues are requifite for those who govern well; and fince there are fome countries where women are excluded from the throne, and no country where they are not poftponed, it would be convenient, methinks, to fee what they do, when by accident they are placed upon it. I fhall not trouble you here with Deborah, nor Efther, nor as much as mention Semiramis, though you have mentioned her upon another occafion; and yet certainly the bravery of moft of her actions ought to make us forget the faults of fome few; but I fhall confine myself within the bounds of our own country. * At a time when the Britons groaned under the fervitude of the Romans; when the king by thinking to oblige the emperor, gave him an opportunity of pillaging his country; and that their patience under their fufferings, was only a means of making them more; when their houses were robbed, their wives and daughters ravished, and their fons taken away from them; then Boadicea arofe, and by her courage, as well as eloquence, infpired her difpirited countrymen with a refo *Tacitus in Vita Agric, and from him Sammes in his Britannia Illuftratâ, lution of throwing off that yoke which was grown in tolerable to be born. It is true, indeed, the end was not answerable to the fucceffes of the beginning; nor to the glory fo heroic an undertaking deserved; however as it was neither want of courage nor conduct in her, fo we ought to render her that veneration which is due to so refolute an enterprise. But as one of the greatest attempts the Britons made for their liberty was whilft they were led by a woman, fo we must own the greatest glory our nation could ever boast, was under the government of one of the fame sex. It was in the time of queen Elizabeth that this ifland arrived at that pitch of greatness, to which it had been afcending for feveral ages, and from which it has been declining, till very lately, ever fince: It is the name of this princess that is dearer to all Englishmen, than the names of all the monarchs fince the conqueft befides, and the only one whose birth-day has been celebrated after her death, by the voluntary gratitude of the people. But however we may forget things that are paft, let us not oversee that which lies before our eyes; and fince the occafion is so very fair, I know not how we can omit the fhewing our fenfe of those virtues, of which the whole nation has demonstrated so grateful an acknowledgement by the body of their reprefentatives; and never were they more truly their representatives before. Yes, Sir, without going to foreign countries, without fearching the hiftories of our own, we have even in our own time, and our own country, a princess who has governed to their general fatisfaction, a people the most curious to pry into the faults of their governors, of any people under the fun. A princefs, who though fhe never fhewed any fondness of vain-glory, or authority, yet when the neceffity of the kingdom called her to the helm, Managed affairs with that dexterity, which is very rarely found found in thofe who are the most ambitious of command. Every thing during that little time of her government, was ordered with that courage, conduct, and prudence, that her greatest friends cannot find eloquence enough to commend, nor her greatest enemies the leaft pretences to condemn. Though fhe had a hufband venturing his life in another country, with a bravery equal to what has made us fufpe&t the ftories of antiquity; tho' our fleet, the bulwarks of the nation, was managed in a manner the courage of the English feamen was utterly unac quainted with; tho' a monarch, who thinks himself able to contend with all Europe together, feemed to make his utmost efforts against a princefs, who had nothing but the universal hearts of her subjects to defend her; tho' all Christendome was in fufpence to see the event of the undertaking, and every little prince had forgot his own danger to contemplate hers; even at this time did we fee her look with all the unconcern imaginable, and whilft every body else was alarmed for her fafety, fhe only feemed to have known nothing of the danger. Not that this unconcern proceeded from any ignorance of her condition, or unreasonable contempt of her adversary; no, she provided against their attempts with all the prudence could be wished for, at the fame time that the looked upon the danger with all the courage in nature. But however great these virtues may appear, when they are fet off by the luftre of a public command, yet they are in effect much greater, when they teach people to despise all fuch dazling trifles. Here it is, Sir, that we have a fresh field for eloquence, when we fee a lady diffatisfied at that glory which she had to every body's fatisfaction befide, and grudge herself that authority, which the owed to the abfence of a husband whom she loved fo much better than that. What think you, Sir, of that alacrity, of that joy with which the refigned up N 2 the the government? Does it not put you in mind of the old Roman generals, who quitted their plough to command an army, and when the victory was gain'd, returned with greater content to their plough again ? This is that wifdom which we fhould admire; this is that virtue which we should adore; and we ought to despise all thofe little pretenders to bufinefs, who thruft themfelves into the management of affairs against every body's will but their own; and having neither virtue nor prudence enough to retire from it at the universal murmurs of the people, are generally made facrifices at last to the juft refentment of an enraged nation. These are thofe blazing comets, whofe fatal glories portend destruction to a government, whilft the virtues of the others, like those of the fun, give it life and heat, by their benign influence. Much more, Sir, might be faid in defence of the fex, which I fhall purposely omit, because I am fatisfied I can never conclude with a more illuftrious example. ESCU. M ESCULAPIUS. AKE the third proclamation, Mercury. MERCURY. O-Yes! O-Yes! O-Yes! Whereas daily complaints are made by all the world, of the innumerable follies of mankind, by reason of which they are neither happy themselves, nor will fuffer others to be fo: The great Jupiter, out of his fatherly compaffion to mankind, has sent Æfculapius to apply medicines to them. Whoever therefore there is, that is troubled with folly of what kind foever, let him repair hither, and he shall be cured without any fee. ESCULAPIUS. What shou'd be the meaning of this? Every par ticular man complains of the follies that are in the world; and when we come hither to apply medicines to them, there is not one man that offers himself to be cured. MERCURY. If I might be allowed to advise Æfculapius in points relating to phyfic, I would tell him there is one thing N 3 in |