662 



ENGLAND. 



Queen's ill- 

 MM, 15C3. 



Fxeeution 

 rfMarjr. 

 Quern of 

 Scou, 1587. 



Projector 



I B- 



licubeth and 

 (he Duke of 



Scot*, excited new contest* with that rival prince--', in 

 which the treachery and cruelty of Elizabeth's conduct 

 cannot be justified ; though it must be admitted, that 

 the fears which impelled her proceedings were not with- 

 out foundation, and wore too often alarmed by the rash- 

 ness of Mary's friends. During her illness, in conse- 

 quence of the small-pox, when little hopes were enter- 

 tained of her recovery, the partisans of the Scottish 

 princes*, and those of the Hou^e of Suffolk, already di- 

 vided the nation into such violent factions, that the 

 controversy, it wan evident, in case of the queen's de- 

 cease, would be terminated only by the sword. The 

 commons, therefore, as soon as her health was restored, 

 earnestly entreated her to put an end to such apprehen- 

 sions, either by choosing a husband, or by naming her 

 ?ucoessor. Elizabeth, however, afraid to declare against 

 Mary, who clearly possessed the right of blood, and 

 who would instantly have become her avowed enemy ; 

 and, on the other hand, unwilling, by a settlement in 

 her rival's favour, to establish pretensions which might 

 be enforced even during her reign, she resolved to keep 

 both parties m awe, by an ambiguous conduct and eva- 

 sive answers ; and chose rather that her subjects should 

 run the risk of a civil war at her death, than that her 

 throne should be endangered during her life. She con- 

 tinued, with all her vigour and policy, to avert such at- 

 tempts on the part of the Popish interest, by giving her 

 enemies employment at home ; and afforded every ne- 

 cessary succour, both to the Hugoncts in France, and to 

 the Reformers in Scotland. An event, however, hap- 

 pened, which placed the person and the fate of her ri- 

 val entirely at her disposal ; and effectually precluded 

 all farther danger from her pretensions. Mary, queen 

 ot' Scots, having been reduced, by her imprudence, if 

 not by her guilt, to take refuge in England, and to 

 seek the protection of Elizabeth against her own sul>- 

 jects, was allured, by the most plausible professions of 

 friendship, to admit the queen of England as umpire in 

 her cause ; and being at length required either volun- 

 tarily to resign her crown, or to associate her son with 

 her in the government, leaving the administration of 

 affairs in the hands of the Ear) of Murray, she was, up- 

 on her refusal to make such a submission, unjustly de- 

 tained as a prisoner in England. Various insurrections 

 and conspiracies, chiefly on her account, and sometimes 

 with her concurrence ; an attempt by the Duke of Nor- 

 folk, (for which he suffered on the scaffold, ) to espouse 

 and to deliver the royal captive ; the open interference 

 of the Pope, who excommunicated Elizabeth, and freed 

 her subjects from their allegiance to her person ; and 

 pnrticuiarly, a plot conducted by the Catholics to assas- 

 sinate the Queen, to which Mary, irritated by confine- 

 ment, and anxious for liberty, had become a party ; 

 these occurrences, and a multitude of other political 

 considerations, induced Elizabeth to bring her unhap- 

 py prisoner to a trial, and to hasten the ruin of a com- 

 petitor, whom she had never ceased to dread or to hate. 

 Mary, who had now lingered 1 8 years in confinement, 

 was accordingly condemned for high treason against the 

 Queen of England, and beheaded in one of the rooms 

 of her prison : a transaction, in the course of which 

 Elizabeth was guilty of the grossest dissimulation and 

 most cruel injustice ; and which, whatever were the 

 crimes of the sufferer, must remain an indelible stain 

 upon the memory of her oppressor. 



While Elizabeth was engaged in plotting the destruc- 

 tion of her rival, she was carrying on a treaty of mar- 

 riage with the young Duke of Anjou ; and, after long 

 struggling between ambition and inclination, she was 



on the point of yielding to the latter, and of subject- Hi.wry. 

 ing herself and her people to a foreign and a Catholic s "~ V w ' 

 prince, when all her favourite attendant-, and minister* 

 united in deprecating so imprudent an alliance. A let- 

 ter, particularly written to her on the subject by the 

 celebrated Sir Philip Sydney, and distinguished by un- 

 usual elegnnce of expression, as well as force ot rea- 

 soning, is understood to have roused her to reflection ; 

 and, after spending several nights in restless anxiety, 

 she finally determined against the match, and dismissed 

 her lover, with proper apologies for her breach of en- 

 gagement. 



While Philip of Spain had beeu actively intriguing Hoitilitw* 

 with the malecontcnts in England and Ireland in the wit fc Spia, 

 cause of the Queen of Scotland of the Catholics, Eliza- I5b7 ' 

 beth had been rendering powerful aid to the insurgents 

 i'L'.'iimt his authority in the Low Countries. In retalia- 

 tion for this interference, he sent, under the name of the 

 pope, a body of 700 Spaniards and Italians into Ire- 

 land, where the inhabitants, discontented with the Eng. 

 lish government, were ready to join any invader; but 

 by the active measures of the Earl of Onnond, they 

 were soon reduced to the necessity of surrendering at 

 discretion. The queen of England, on the other hand, 

 countenanced the predatory attacks of Sir Francis Drake 

 upon the Spanish settlements in South America ; and, 

 by those mutual aggravations, the two nations were at 

 length brought toan open rupture. Elizabeth, in the view 

 of an approaching war with so powerful an antagonist, 

 concluded a league of mutual defence with the king of 

 Scotland; anil hearing that Philip was secretly preparing 

 an immense fleet for the invasion of her kingdom, she 

 resolved to strike the first blow, and to brave his boast- 

 ed naval force in his own harbours. Sir Francis Drake 

 was immediately dispatched with a strong squadron, 

 which the London merchants had assisted to equip, in 

 the hopes of sharing the plunder ; and, sailing direct to 

 Cadiz, he destroyed about a hundred vessels laden with 

 ammunition and stores. By this short exjH'dition, the 

 intended invasion of England was retarded a whole 

 twelvemonth ; and the English seamen were taught to 

 despise those unwieldy vessels of the enemy, which 

 were threatening to spread terror along their coasts. 

 The preparations of Philip, who meditated nothing 

 short of the entire conquest of England, were carried on 

 with redoubled vigour ; and the Spaniards, confident of 

 success, had already denominated tlu-ir navy the Invin- 

 cible Annada. Elizabeth, on her part, exerted her ut- 

 most prudence and vigour to resist the danger with 

 which she was threatened ; and employed all the re- 

 sources which her domestic situation, or her foreign al- 

 liances, could afford. By all the Protestants of Europe, 

 the enterpri/e was considered as decisive of their fate ; 

 and those who could give no assistance, contemplated, 

 with anxious interest, the approaching struggle. The 

 people of England, animated by the spirited example 

 of their sovereign, manifested the most determined re- 

 solution to defend their religion and their liberties; and 

 even the Catholic subjects, treated by the queen with 

 generous moderation, forgetting for the present all par- 

 ty concerns, united with one heart in defence of the 

 common cause. The armada at length set sail from inmuoo of 

 Lisbon, and entered the Channel in the form of a crcs- Inland by 

 cent, which extended its two extremities to the distance tjlc aruuds, . 

 of seven miles ; but, completely baffled in its first at- 

 tempts by the skill and courage of the English navy, 

 gradually weakened by their daring and repeated at- 

 tacks, and finally overtaken by a dreadful storm when 

 passing the Orkneys, this mighty armament was so ut- 



