in the kingdom of France. This misfortune was productive of one still more dreadful to the nation; for the English army carried back the plague with them to London, which made such ravages, that twenty thou sand persons died there in one year.

This, if we except the troubles raised upon the account of Mary, seems to have been the only disaster that, for thirty years, contributed to disturb the peace of this reign. Elizabeth, ever vigilant, active, and resolute, attended to the slightest alarms, and repressed them before they were capable of producing their ef fect. Her frugality kept her independent, and her dissimulation made her beloved. The opinion of the royal prerogative was such, that her commands were obeyed as statutes; and she took care that her parliament should never venture to circumscribe her power. In her schemes of government she was assisted by lord Burleigh, and sir Nicholas Bacon, two of the most able ministers that ever directed the affairs of England; but while she committed to them all the drudgery of duty, Robert Dudley, earl of Leicester, engrossed all her favour, and secured all the avenues to preferment. All requests were made through him; and nothing given away without his consent and approbation. His merits, however, were by no means adequate to his successes; he was weak, vain, and boastful; but these qualities did no injury to the state, as his two co-adjutors were willing, while he maintained all the splendour of office, to secure to themselves the more solid emoluments.

During this peaceable and uniform government, England furnishes few materials for history. While France was torn with internal convulsions; while above ten thousand of the Huguenots were massacred in one night, in cool blood, on the feast of St. Bartholomew,

at Paris; while the inhabitants of the Low-Countries had shaken off the Spanish yoke, and were bravely vindicating their rights and their religion; while all the rest of Europe were teeming with plots, seditions, and cruelty; the English, under their wise queen, were enjoying all the benefits of peace, extending commerce, improving manufactures, and setting an example of arts and learning to all the rest of the world. Except the small part, therefore, which Elizabeth took in foreign transactions, there scarcely passed any occurrence which requires a particular detail.

There had for some time arisen disgusts between the court of England and that of Spain. Elizabeth's rejection of the suit of Philip might probably have given rise to these disgusts; and Mary's claiming the protection of that monarch tended to widen the breach. This began, as usual, on each side, with petty hostilities: the Spaniards, on their part, had sent into Ireland a body of seven hundred of their nation and Italians, who built a fort there; but were soon after cut off to a man, by lord Grey. On the other hand, the English, under the conduct of sir Francis Drake, assaulted the Spaniards in the place where they deemed themselves most secure-in the New World. This was the first Englishman who sailed round the globe; and the queen was so well pleased with his valour and success, that she accepted a banquet from him at Deptford, on board the ship which had achieved so memorable a voyage.

In this manner, while hostilities were daily multiplying between Spain and England, and while the power of Spain, and the monarch's inclinations were very formidable to the queen, she began to look out for an alliance that might support her against such a dangerous adversary. The duke of Anjou had long made pretensions to Elizabeth; and though she was near twenty

five years older than that prince, he took the resolution to prefer his suit in person, and paid her a visit in secret at Greenwich. It appears that, though his figure was not advantageous, his address was pleasing. The queen ordered her ministers to fix the terms of the contract; a day was appointed for the solemnization of the nuptials, and every thing seemed to speak an approaching union. But Elizabeth could not be induced, as that event appeared to approach, to change her condition; she was doubtful, irresolute, and melancholy; she was observed to pass several nights without any sleep, till at last her settled habits of prudence prevailed over her ambition, and the duke of Anjou was dismissed.

The queen, thus depriving herself of a foreign ally, looked for approbation and assistance from her own subjects at home. Yet even here she was not without numberless enemies, who either hated her for religion, or envied her for success. There were several conspiracies formed against her life, many of which were imputed to the intrigues of the queen of Scots: at least it is certain that her name was used in all. Henry Percy, earl of Northumberland, brother to the peer who had been beheaded some years before, and Philip Howard, earl of Arundel, son of the unfortunate duke of Norfolk, fell under suspicion; and the latter was, by order of council, confined to his own house. Francis Throgmorton, a private gentleman, was committed to custody, on account of a letter which he had written to the queen of Scots; and shortly after confessing his guilt, he was condemned and executed. Soon after, William Parry, a catholic gentleman, who had on a former occasion received the queen's pardon, was found engaged in a desperate conspiracy to assassinate his sovereign and benefactor. He had consulted upon the justice and expediency of this vile measure both with the pope's

nuncio and legate, who exhorted him to persevere in his resolution, and extremely applauded his design. He therefore associated himself with one Nevil, who entered zealously into the design; and it was determined to shoot the queen, while she was taking the air on horseback. But while they were watching an opportunity for the execution of their purpose, the earl of Westmorland happened to die in exile; and as Nevil was next heir to the family, he began to entertain hopes, that, by doing some acceptable service to the queen, he might recover the estate and honours which had been forfeited by the rebellion of the last earl. He betrayed the whole conspiracy to the ministers; and Parry, being thrown into prison, confessed the guilt both to them, and to the jury who tried him. He was shortly after condemned and executed.

These attempts, which were entirely set on foot by the catholic party, served to increase the severity of the laws against them. Popish priests were banished; those who harboured or relieved them were declared guilty of felony; and many were executed in consequence of this severe edict. Nor was the queen of Scots herself without some share of the punishment. She was removed from the care of the earl of Shrew bury, who had always been indulgent to his prisoner, particularly with regard to air and exercise; and she was committed to the custody of sir Amias Paulet, and sir Drue Drury, men of honour, but inflexible and rigid in their care and attention.

These conspiracies served to prepare the way for Mary's ruin, whose greatest misfortunes proceeded rather from the violence of her friends than the malignity A. D. of her enemies. Elizabeth's ministers had long 1586. been waiting for some signal instance of the captive queen's enmity, which they could easily convert into

treason; and this was not long wanting. John Ballard, a popish priest, who had been bred in the English seminary at Rheims, resolved to compass the death of a queen whom he considered as the enemy of his religion; and, with that gloomy resolution, he came over into England in the disguise of a soldier, with the assumed name of captain Fortescue. He bent his endeavours to bring about at once the project of an assassination, an insurrection, and an invasion. The first person he addressed himself to was Anthony Babington, of Dethick, in the county of Derby, a young gentleman of good family, and possessed of a very plentiful fortune. This person had been long remarkable for his zeal in the catholic cause, and his attachment to the captive queen. He, therefore, came readily into the plot, and procured the concurrence and assistance of some other associates in this dangerous undertaking; Barnwell, a person of a noble family in Ireland; Charnock, a gentleman of Lancashire; Abington, whose father had been cofferer to the household; and, chief of all, John Savage, a man of desperate fortune, who had served in the LowCountries, and came into England under a vow to destroy the queen. He indeed did not seem to desire any associate in the bold enterprise, and refused for some time to permit any to share with him in what he esteemed his greatest glory. He challenged the whole to himself; and it was with some difficulty that he was induced to depart from his preposterous ambition. The next step was to apprise Mary of the conspiracy formed in her favour; and this they effected by conveying their letters to her (by means of a brewer that supplied the family with ale) through a chink in the wall of her apartment. In these, Babington informed her of a design laid for a foreign invasion, the plan of an insurrection at home, the scheme for her deliverance, and the