ELIZABETH CHARLOTTE. 



parliamentary complaint, and were often, in conse- 

 quence, revoked. 



The assistance given by Elizabeth to the Protest- 

 ants of the Low Countries induced Spain, in 1572. 

 to promote a conspiracy, which \v;is chiefly conducted 

 by a Florentine mercliant and the bishop of Ross, the 

 Scottish resilient in England. The Duke of Norfolk, 

 allowing himself to be drown into a participation of 

 this plot, on its discovery, was tried and executed. 

 The massacre of St Bartholomew, in the same year, 

 alarmed all Prot estant rulers, and especially Elizabeth, 

 who put herself and court into mourning on the occa- 

 sion. and received in silence the French ambassador 

 -cut civ IT to apologize for tliat execrable deed. She, 

 however, maintained external amity with the French 

 court, and even suffered negotiations to be commenced 

 for IHT marriage with the duke of Alengon, the king's 

 brother, which brought that prince to England. An 

 expectation tliat the union would take place now be- 

 came general. In 1575, she received the offer of the 

 sovereignty of the revolted Dutch provinces ; but, 

 from prudential reasons, she declined to accept it; and 

 it was not until 1578 that she signed with them a 

 treaty of alliance. In 1585, Elizabeth ventured 

 openly to defy the hostility of Spain, by entering into 

 a treaty with the revolted provinces, by which she 

 bound herself to assist them with a considerable force, 

 the command of which she intrusted to Leicester, 

 wljo did little honour to her choice. She also sent 

 an armament, under Drake, against the Spanish set- 

 tlements in the West Indies, and made a league of 

 mutual defence with James, king of Scotland, whose 

 friendship she courted, wliile she detained his mother 

 in prison. 



In 1586, that conspiracy took place, the object of 

 which was her assassination by Anthony Babington. 

 As Elizabeth's principal counsellors were of opinion 

 tliat the safety of the state demanded the life of Mary, 

 whatever may be thought of the injustice of her 

 treatment, it was clearly the result of strong political 

 circumstances. Elizabeth, however, conscious of the 

 inv idious light in which the execution of a queen and 

 relation would appear to Europe, practised all the 

 arts of dissimulation to remove as much of the odium 

 from herself as possible. She even wished Mary to 

 be taken off privately ; and it was only on the refu- 

 sal of Sir Amias Paulet and Sir Drue Drury, her 

 keepers, to be concerned in so odious an affair, that 

 the curious transaction of furthering the warrant by 

 secretary Davison took place, the consequence of 

 which was the execution of Mary on Feb. 8, 1587. 

 The dissembled grief of Elizabeth, when informed of 

 Uiis catastrophe, deceived no one, although the impu- 

 ted mistake of Davison, and the sacrifice of him to 

 her assumed resentment, afforded the king of Scotland 

 a pretext for resuming an amicable correspondence 

 with the English court. 



The year 1588 was rendered memorable by the 

 defeat of the Spanish armada, on which meditated 

 invasion Elizabeth displayed all the confidence and 

 energy of her character. Soon after this event, 

 Elizabeth became the ally of Henry IV. of France, 

 in order to vindicate his title to that throne ; and, for 

 some years, English auxiliaries served in France, and 

 naval expeditions were undertaken, in which none 

 more distinguished themselves than the celebrated earl 

 of Essex, who, on the death of Leicester, succeeded 

 to his place in the queen's favour. In 1601, she held 

 a conference with the marquis de Rosni (afterwards 

 the celebrated Sully), who came over, on the part of 

 Henry IV., to concert, in concurrence with England, 

 a new balance of European power, to control the 

 preponderance of the house of Austria. Elizabeth 

 readily gaye in to the project, and the minister quitted 

 England in admiration of the solidity and enlargement 



of her political views. Having suppressed an insur- 

 rection in Ireland, and obliged all the Spanish trooj s, 

 sent to aid in it, to quit the island, she turned her 

 thoughts towards relieving the burdens of her sub- 

 jects, and gained much additional popularity by sup- 

 pressing a great number of unpopular monopolies. 



The execution of the earl 01 Essex (see Devereux, 

 Robert], however, gaye a fatal blow toiler happiue-s; 

 and, on learning from the dying countess of Notting- 

 ham, tliat he had really transmitted the ring, which 

 implied his request of pardon, she became furious 

 with rage, and, when her anger subsided, fell into an 

 incurable melancholy. At length nature began to 

 sink, and, as her end manifestly approached, she WHS 

 urged by her council to declare her successor. She 

 answered, " Who but her kinsman, the king of 

 Scots ?" and soon after, sinking into a lethargy, she 

 expired, without further struggle or convulsion, on 

 March 24, 1602, in the 70th year of her age, and 45th 

 of her reign. 



Estimating the character and conduct of Elizabeth 

 from the events of her reign, she will justly ranking!:, 

 among sovereigns. Under her auspices, the Protest, 

 ant religion, as opposed to popery, was firmly esta 

 Wished. Factions were restrained, governmen, 

 strengthened, the vast power of Spain nobly opposed, 

 oppressed neighbours supported, a navy created 

 commerce rendered flourishing, and the nationa 

 character aggrandized. She clid not merely lend a 

 name to a conspicuous period of history; her own 

 prudence, judgment, fortitude, firmness, vigour, and 

 industry materially contributed to the prosperity of 

 her administration. She was frugal to the borders of 

 avarice ; but, being as economical of the people's 

 money as of her own, her prudent attention to national 

 expenditure contributed materially to the public 

 good. The severity of Elizabeth to Catholic emissa- 

 ries, Jesuits, and others, whether native or foreign, 

 lias latterly been deemed scarcely defensible, nor, on 

 a religious ground, is it so ; but it is never to be for- 

 gotten, that most of those who suffered really sought 

 the overthrow of the state, and, in addition, acted 

 under the direction of a foreign influence of the most 

 baleful description. The treatment of the queen of 

 Scots can never be defended, but will always remain 

 one of those cases which neither policy, nor even 

 personal danger, can sufficiently justify. Her princi- 

 pal defects were violence and haughtiness of temper, 

 impatience of contradiction, and insatiable fondness 

 for admiration and flattery. It is to be remarked, 

 however, tliat, capricious as she was in her affections, 

 and petty in her feminine jealousies, she always made 

 even her favourites feel that she was their sovereign, 

 when they were disposed to forget it. Although fond 

 of literature, and substantially learned, she was no 

 very munificent patroness, and made very poor 

 returns for the excess of incense so lavishly be- 

 stowed upon her. She was skilled in the Greek, 

 and spoke the Latin language with consider- 

 able fluency. She translated from the former into 

 Latin a dialogue of Xenophon, two orations of Iso- 

 crates, and a play of Euripides, and also wrote a 

 commentary on Plato. From the Latin she translated 

 Boethius's Consolations of Philosophy, Sallust's Ju- 

 gurthine War, and a part of Horace's Art of Poetry. 

 In the Royal and Noble Authors of lord Orford, may 

 also be found a catalogue of translations from the 

 French, prayers, meditations, speeches in parliament, 

 letters, &c. 



ELIZABETH CHARLOTTE, duchess of Orleans 

 only daughter of the elector Charles Louis, of the 

 Palatinate, was born at Heidelberg, hi 1652. She 

 was a princess of distinguished talents and character, 

 and lived hah a century in the court of Louis XIV. 

 without clanging her German habits for French moi>- 



