When Elizabeth found that the tide of public prejudice continued to run strongly against Mary, and that the people were as eager as herself for the execution of that princess, she commanded secretary Davison to prepare the warrant for her signature. As soon as it was produced before her, she signed it with as much cheerfulness and selfcomplacency as if it had contained the grant of a pardon. She even insulted the misfortunes of the injured queen by unseasonable joculavity. Having desired the secretary to inform his colleague Walsingham (then indisposed) of what she had done, she added, with an air of levity, that she was apprehensive of his dying of grief at the intelJigence. But, after she had thus given her sanction to the public execution of Mary, her fear of the censures of mankind suggested to her an expedient by which she hoped to remove the odium of her death on her keepers. She wished them to murder her in private, on pretence of the association by which they had bound themselves to revenge any attempt against the life of their own sovereign. This contrivance, she flattered herself, would tend to the propagation of an opinion that she had not consented to Mary's death, and that the officious zeal of private individuals had perpetrated the deed without her knowledge. Pleased with the suggestion, she ordered the two secretaries of state to write a letter to Paulet and Drury, reproaching them with their want of loyalty and public spirit, in not having relieved her, by some violent aud decisive means, from the danger to which she was hourly exposed by the life of Mary; urging the bond of association as a sufficient. justification of such a measure, to their own conscience as well as to the world; and reprobating their un kindness in wishing to throw the odium upon her, acquainted as they were with the humanity of her disposition, which rendered it so unpleasing to her to order the execution even of the lowest criminal, that they might easily suppose her to be peculiarly averse to the idea of issuing a warrant for the delivery of a princess of her own family into the hands of the executioner *. Paulet and his associate, though not remarkable for their tenderness to Mary, had too much honor to perpetrate the infamous deed in which their unprincipled sovereign was desirous of employing them. She might command, they said, their honorable services; but they scorned to act the part of assassins. Mortified at their refusal, which she ridiculed as the offspring of precise delicacy and idle scrupulosity, Elizabeth resolved to instigate some less conscientious persons to the secret murder of the Scottish queen. But, being at length dissuaded from that resolution by the remonstrances of Davison, she thought proper to have recourse to the regular execution of the sentence. That minister having communicated the warrant to the chancellor for the application of the great seal to it, Elizabeth sent a messenger to countermand that operation; and finding that it was already performed, she reprimanded Davison for his precipitation. Wishing to draw him into a snare, that she might have a pretence for imputing Mary's execution to him, she peither ordered him to issue the warrant, nor to with-hold it t. Con

Camd. p. 502.-Strype, vol. iii.-Biographia Britannica, art. + Strype, vol. iii,'

Davison.'

ceiving

ceiving it to be his duty to expedite a writ which had passed through the necessary forms, and which he knew the queen to be extremely, desirous of executing, he produced it before the privy council; and, as Burghley, Hatton, and other experienced courtiers, penetrated her schemes against Davison, of which indeed he himself had some suspicion, they resolved to gratify her wish, and easily persuaded the whole assembly to concur in sending off the warrant, without further communication with their mistress. To allay the apprehensions of Davison, all the counsellors engaged to bear an equal share of the blame that might attend this measure *.'

After the execution of the unfortunate Mary, which Dr.Coote has narrated in terms of simple eloquence and pathos, the English sovereign still maintained an appearance of kindness and regret :

When the execution of Mary was notified to Elizabeth, another scene of hypocrisy appeared. She affected the utmost grief and astonishment, and threatened her ministers with her severest displeasure, for having put her dear sister to death not only without her knowledge or consent, but even in opposition to her declared will She wrote a letter to the king of Scotland, asserting her innocence of his mother's death, and professing an inviolable attachment to his interests. James was so incensed at Mary's fate, that he resolved not only to renounce his alliance with Elizabeth, but to avenge, by hostilities, the cause of the murdered princess. His nobles applauded the justness of his resentment, and promised to act with vigor againsta queen who had insulted and degraded their nation. He refused to admit Sir Robert Cary, the bearer of Elizabeth's letter, within his frontiers; though he afterwards consented that the epistle should be received, as well as a memorial written by Cary, in which the blame of Mary's execution was imputed to secretary Davison, whom the queen intented to punish severely for his presumption. These dispatches did not tend to allay the wrath of James, who easily discerned the falsehoods which they contained. He continued to think of revenge; and, as his own kingdom was too weak to give him hopes of success in a war with England, he looked out for a powerful ally, by whose aid he might effectually punish the injustice, and humble the arrogance of Elizabeth †.

In the mean time, Davison was prosecuted in the star-chamber for a misdemeanor, in having produced the warrant before the privy council without the orders of the queen, who affirmed that she had strictly enjoined him not to communicate it to any one till he had received further directions from her. Though Davison denied that she had given him such a charge, he was condemned by an arbitrary court to pay a fine of 10,000l. and to suffer imprisonment during the queen's pleasure. This iniquitous sentence reduced the secretary to indigence and misery. He lingered some years in confinement; during which the queen, by whose tyranny he had been ruined, occasionally relieved his necessities ‡.'

*Camd. p.502. +Spotswood's Hist. of Scotland.--Camd. Ann. Camd. p. 496-501.-Strype, vol. iii.'

We

We shall contrast the characters of these two extraordinary female sovereigns, as drawn by the present historian, that the reader may be enabled to form an estimate of his judgment and impartiality:

Thus fell Mary Stuart, queen of Scotland in her own right, dowager of France, and heiress of the crowns of England and Ireland; a victim to the malignity of female jealousy, and to the rage of puritanical bigotry. Having sufficiently spoken of the controverted parts of her conduct, we shall now dismiss this illustrious female with a sketch of her general character. Her personal accomplishments were brilliant and captivating. By beauty of countenance, symmetry of form, and dignity of stature, she was eminently distinguished. The natural elegance of hier address, improved by the polish" of Gallic education, heightened the attractions of her person; and her engaging affability, vivacity, and ease, delighted all who had the honor of conversing with her. She possessed very respectable talents; and her mind was cultivated by literature and erudition. In the profound knowledge of policy and government, she was inferior to Elizabeth; but, in generosity, magnanimity, and other royal virtues, she excelled her celebrated rival. Of the crimes of murder and adultery, of which she has been so peremptorily accused, we have endeavoured to acquit her, not only on the ground of insufficiency of evidence, but on the consideration of the flagitious characters of her chief accusers. Into acts of indiscretion, however, she was sometimes hurried, by the warmth of her feelings, and the suddenness of her resolutions. Her attachment to her religion was so strong as to expose her to the imputationof bigotry; and though she made no open attempts to overturn that theological system which her subjects had established during her absence on the continent, hier forbearance was less the result of inclination than of the weakness of female authority over a bold and turbu lent people. Being naturally frank and open (though she was not unskilled in dissimulation), she was inclined to entertain too favorable an opinion of those who concealed their vices; and her occasional credulity, and unseasonable clemency, afforded the ambitious hypocrites of her court an opportunity of effecting her ruin. Her deportment had too great an appearance of levity, to please those fanatics who, under the auspices of the earl of Murray, and the instructions of Knox, endeavoured to throw a gloom over the innocent cheerfulness of life. She did not perhaps take the most proper steps for repressing the factious spirit of her nobles, or the seditious excesses of her clergy; and, by deviating, in some instances, from the paths of prudence and judgment, she was less able to avert the storm which drove her from her throne. Her weakness in trusting to the professions of Elizabeth cannot be mentioned without censure; but her behaviour in that long series of adversity which she sustained after she had put herself into the power of the English queen, demands our admiration of her patience, fortitude, and constancy. In her prison, and on the scaffold, she appears a greater woman than Elizabeth on her throne, trembling, like a jealous tyrant, with mean suspicions and degrading fears.'

• The

The length of a reign in which the sovereign, far from being the puppet or tool of a ministry, was the animating spirit of every public measure, has given the reader so many opportunities of dis cerning the genius and character of Elizabeth, that a very slight. sketch will here suffice. Her mascaline turn of mind, her firmness, her penetration, and her judgment, qualified her for the government of an empire. Learned, intelligent, and enlightened; active, vigi lant, and circumspect; studious of the honor of her country, and of the general welfare of her subjects; she acquired a reputation and a popularity which greatly contributed to the success of her enterprises, and the prosperity of her sway. Though menaced with ruin by the catholic powers of the continent, she baffled all their schemes by her consummate prudence and distinguished address: she despised the thunders of the Vatican, and the more formidable artillery of Philip; and, by the efforts of a brave people who cheerfully risqued their lives in the service of their admired princess, she was enabled to triumph over the persevering malignity and the tremendous preparations of her foreign enemies. Her domestic foes she sometimes overawed by severity, and sometimes conciliated by lenity; but her disposition seemed more to incline her to the former conduct. She was of an imperious spirit, and was impatient of the least opposition to her will; and the storms of passion into which she was betrayed were frequent and violent. Her frugality was.carried to such an extremity as sometimes to obstruct the complete success of her schemes; and her desire of treasure impelled her into ex-' tortion and rapacity. Her courage and fortitude did not defend her from jealousies and suspicions, which, in the case of the Scottish queen, she indulged to a disgraceful excess. Indeed, her whole conduct towards that princess was a series of dissimulation, perfidy, injustice, and barbarity. Though her general government was just and moderate, she was guilty of many acts of oppression; but even these abuses of power did not extinguish that popular regard which she had procured by the splendor of her talents, by the great qualities which catered into her composition, by her winning affability and courtesy to the lower ranks of the community, by her indefatigable attention to public affairs, and by the great events and signal achievements of her reign.'

The influence which the Earl of Essex possessed over the mind of his royal mistress, and the effects of his misconduct in Ireland, are not, in our opinion, sufficiently detailed by Dr. Coote; and the same objection may be made with respect to other great and important events in this reign.

The Vith volume contains the history of the Stuarts; a family, we think, more undeserving than unfortunate; and though the fate of the first Charles was severe, and his trial and sentence were unconstitutional and illegal, yet it must be allowed that he committed many unkingly faults, which perhaps would have justified the depriving him of regal authority,

though,

though, according to our notions of government, no failure of duty on his part could justify his execution.

The events of the reign of James the First are related with simplicity and impartiality; and his conduct in many important transactions receives the just tribute of censure or of praise, according to the respective qualities of his actions :-but Dr. Coote entertains a more favourable opinion of the character of this prince, than we have ever been able to adopt.

In a future article, we shall consider the remaining volumes of this work.

ART. VI. The Rural Economy of the Southern Counties; comprizing Kent, Surry, Sussex; the Isle of Wight; the Chalk Hills of Wiltshire, Hampshire, &c: and including the Culture and Management of Hops, in the Districts of Maidstone, Canterbury, and Farnham. By Mr. Marshall. 8vo. 2 Vols. pp. 410. each. 155. Boards. Nicol. 1798.

WE heartily congratulate this intelligent and indefatigable professionalist, on having finished his Survey of English Agriculture; which, though the extent, variety, and magnitude of the objects which it embraces will necessarily prevent it from being perfect, is yet highly instructive and useful to the reader, as well as honorable to the author. His Notitie Rustica in these volumes discover, as on former occasions, the mind of science, the eye of experience, and the heart of philan thropy. No one will doubt his ability to report the state of agriculture in any province, and to suggest hints for improving any particular custom or practice. By comparing different usages, and noticing every variety of management, he may be instrumental in promoting the most beneficial reformations. The country-gentleman and the intelligent farmer, of every district, will probably pronounce Mr. M.'s Survey to be defective in some particulars: but they will rarely peruse his clear statements, and his acute remarks and hints for improvement, without acknowleging his genius and expressing their obligations.

We read with concern, in some places, that Mr. M. had here few opportunities of examining;'-that he was not prepared for detail;'-that he had not time for collecting information;'-and that his information is confined.' We think that, in these cases, Mr. M. should have applied by letter to the most able persons of the district in question, and should have followed the plan of some other writets on rural affairs; who, to their own experience and observation, have added the experience and observation of many other intelligent country gentle

men