106 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 



of England, in the main continuance of it, and the partiality 

 and obliquity of that of Scotland, in the most copious and 

 recent account that has been left us. As this island of 

 Great Britain will now, as one united monarchy, descend 

 to future ages, we cannot but deem it a work alike honor 

 able to your Majesty, and grateful to. posterity, that exploits 

 were collected in one history, in the style of the ancient 

 Testament, which hands down the story of the ten tribes 

 and the two tribes as twins together. If the greatness of 

 the undertaking, however, should prove any obstacle to its 

 perfect execution, a shorter period of time, fraught with 

 the greatest interest, occurs from the junction* of the Roses 

 t the union of the two kingdoms a space of time which 

 to me appears to contain a crowd of more memorable events 

 than ever occurred in any hereditary monarchy of similar 

 duration. For it commences with the conjoint adoption of 

 a crown, by arms, and title, an entry by battle, and a mar 

 riage settlement. The times which follow, partaking of the 

 nature of such beginnings, like waters after a tempest, full 

 of workings and swellings, though without boisterous 

 storms, being well navigated by the wisdom of the pilot, 1 

 one of the most able of his predecessors. Then succeeded 

 the reign of a king, whose policy, though rather actuated 

 by passion than counsel, exercised great influence upon the 

 courts of Europe, balancing and variably inclining their 

 various interests; in whose time, also, began that great 

 change of religion, an action seldom brought on the stage. 

 Then the reign of a minor. Then an attempt at usurpation, 

 though it was but as a &quot;febris ephemera&quot;: then the reign 

 of a queen, matched with a foreigner: then the reign of a 

 queen, solitary and unmarried. And now, as a close, the 

 glorious and auspicious event of the union of an island, 

 divided from the rest of the world : so that we may say the 

 old oracle which gave rest to JEneas, &quot;antiquam exquirite 

 matrem,&quot; * is fulfilled in the union of England and Scotland 



1 Henry VII. * ^En. iii. 96. 



