enormous abuses of power with which both fovereigns are accufed, owed their origin to the fame fource; the errors arifing from a bad education, aggravated and extended by the impious flattery of defigning priests; we fhall also be obliged to confefs, that the parliament itself, by an unprecedented fervility, helped to confirm James in the exalted idea he had entertained of the royal office, and that the doctrines of an abfolute and unconditional fubmiffion on the part of fubjects, which, in the reign of his father, was, in a great measure, confined to the precepts of a Laud, a Sibthorpe, and Maynwaring, were now taught as the avowed doctrines of the Church of England, were acknowledged by the two Universities, and implicitly avowed by a large majority of the nation; fo great, indeed, was the change in the temper, manners, and opinions of the people, from the commencement of the reign of Charles the First to the commencement of the reign of his fon James, that at this fhameful period the people gloried in having laid all their privileges at the foot of the throne, and execrated every generous principle of freedom, as arifing from a fpirit totally incompatible with the peace of fociety, and altogether repugnant to the doctrines of Chriflianity. This was the fituation of affairs at the acceflion of the unfortunate James; and had he been equally unprincipled as his brother, the deceafed king; had he profeffed himself a Proteftant, whilft he was in his heart a Papift; had he not regarded it as his duty to use his omnipotent power for the restoring to fome parts of its ancient dignity a Church which he regarded as the only true Church of Chrift; or had he, inftead of attacking the prerogative of the prelacy, fuffered them to fhare the regal defpotifm which they had fixed on the bafis of confcience, the moft flagrant abufes of civil power would never have been called in judgment against him, and parliament themselves would have lent their constitutional authority to have riveted the chains of the empire in fuch a manner as fhould have put it out of the power of the moft determined votaries of freedom to have re-established the government on its ancient foundation. From this immediate evil England owes its deliverance to the bigoted fincerity of James; a circumftance which ought, in fome meature, to conciliate our affections to the memory of the fufferer, and induce us to treat thofe errors with lenity, which have led to the enjoyment of privileges which can never be entirely loft, but by a general corruption of principle and depravity of manners. It was faid by the witty duke of Buckingham, "that Charles the Second might "do well if he would, and that James "would do well if he could;" an obfervation which fays little for the understanding of James, but a great deal for his heart; and, with all the blemishes with which his public character is stained, he was not deficient in feveral qualities neceffary to compofe a good fovereign. His industry and bufinefs were exemplary, he was frugal of the public money, he cherished and extended the maritime power of the empire, and his encouragement of trade was attended with fuch fuccefs, that, according to the obfervation of the impartial hiftorian Ralph, as the frugality of his adminiftration helped to increase the number of malcontents, fo his extreme attention to trade was not lefs alarming to the whole body of the Dutch, than his refolution not to rush into a war with France was mortifying to their ftadtholder. In domestic life, the character of James, though not irreproachable, was comparatively good. It is true, he was in a great meafure tainted with that licentioufnefs of manners, which at this time pervaded the whole fociety, and which reigned triumphant within the circle of the court; but he was never carried into any exceffes which trenched deeply on the duties of focial life; and if the qualities of his heart were only to be judged by his different conduct in the different characters of husband, father, mafter, and friend, he might be pronounced a man of very amiable difpofition. But thofe who know not how to forgive injuries, and can never pardon the errors, the infirmities, the vices, or even the virtues of their fellow-creatures, when in any refpect they affect perfonal intereft or inclination, will aim against them the fenfibility of every humane mind, and can never expect from others that juftice and commiferation which themselves have never exercised: but whilft we execrate that rancorous cruelty with which James, in the fhort hour of triumph, perfecuted all thofe who endeavoured to thwart his ambitious hopes, it is but juftice to obferve, that the rank vices of pride, malice, and revenge, which blacken his conduct, whilt he figured in the station of prefumptive heir to the crown, and afterwards in the character of fovereign, on the C43 fuccefsful fuccefsful quelling of the Monmouth rebellion, were thoroughly corrected by the chaftifing hand of affliction: that the whole period of his life, from his return to Ireland to the day of his death, was fpent in the exercife of the first Chriftian virtues, patience, fortitude, humility, and refignation. Bretonneau, his biographer, records, that he always fpoke with an extreme moderation of the individuals who had acted the moft fuccessfully in his disfavour; that he reproved thofe who mentioned their conduct with feverity; that he read, even with a floical apathy, the bittereft writings which were published against him; that he regarded the lofs of empire as a neceffary correction of the mifdemeanors of his life, and even rebuked thofe who expreffed any concern for the iffue of events, which he refpected as ordinations of the divine will. According to the fame biographer, James was exact in his devotion, moderate even to abftinence in his life; full of fentiments of the highest contrition for paft offences; and, according to the difcipline of the Romifh church, was very fevere in the aufterities which he inflicted on his perion. As this prince juftly regarded himself as a martyr to the Catholic faith, as his warmeft friends were all of this perfuafion, as his converfation in his retirement at St. Germains was entirely, in a great meafure, confined to priests and devotees, it is natural that this fuperftition fhould increafe with the increase of religious fentiment; and as he had made ufe of his power and authority, whilt in England, to enlarge the number of profelytes in popery, fo, in a private flation, he laboured inceffantly, by prayer, exhortation, and example, to confirm the piety of his Popish adherents, and to effect a reformation in those who ftill continued firm to the doctrines of the church of England. He vifited the monks of La Trappe once a year, the fevereft order of religionists in France; and his conformity to the difcipline of the convent was fo ftrict and exact, that he impreffed thofe devotees with fentiments of admiration at his piety, humility, and conftancy. Thus having fpent twelve years with a higher degree of peace and tranquillity than he had ever experienced in the most triumphant part of his life, he was feized with a palty in September 1701, and after having languished fifteen days, died in the fixty-eighth year of his age, having filled up the interval between his firft feizure and nual exit with the whole train of religious exercifes enjoined on fimilar occafions by the church of Rome, with folemn and repeated profeffions of his faith, and earnest exhortation to his two children, the youngeft of whom was born in the fecond year of his exile, to keep ftedfaft to the religion in which they had been educated. These precepts and commands have acted with a force fupcrior to all the temptations of a crown, and have been adhered to with a firmnefs which obliges an historian to acknowledge the fuperiority which James's defcendants, in the nice points of honour and confcience, have gained over the character of Henry the Fourth, who, at the period when he was looked up to as the great hero of the Proteftant caufe, made no fcruple to accept a crown on the difgraceful terms of abjuring the principles of the Reformation, and embracing the principles of a religion, which, from his early infancy, he had been taught to regard as idolatrous and profane. The dominion of error over the minds of the generality of mankind is irrefiitible. James, to the laft hour of his life, continued as great a bigot to his political as his religious errors: he could not help confidering the firength and power of the crown as a circumftance neceffary to the prefervation and happinefs of the people; and in a letter of advice which he wrote to his fon, whilft he conjures him to pay a religious obfervance to all the duties of a good fovereign, he cautions him against fuffering any entrenchment on the royal prerogative. Among feveral heads, containing excellent inftructions on the art of reigning happily and juftly, he warns the young prince never to difquiet his fubjects in their property or their religion; and, what is remarkable, to his last breath he perfifted in afferting, that he never attempted to fubvert the laws, or procure more than a toleration and equa lity of privilege to his Catholic fubjects. As there is great reafon to believe this affertion to be true, it fhews, that the delufion was incurable under which the king laboured, by the truft he had put in the knavifh doctrines of lawyers and priefs; and that neither himfelf, nor his Proteftant abettors, could fathom the confequences of that enlarged toleration which he endeavoured to eftablish. Macaulay. 106. Character of WILLIAM III. William III. was in his perfon of the middle ftature, a thin body, and delicate conflitution, fubject to an asthma and con tinual cough from his infancy. He had an aquiline nofe, fparkling eyes, a large forehead, and grave folemn afpect. He was very fparing of fpeech; his converfation was dry, and his manner disgusting, except in battle, when his deportment was free, fpirited, and animating. In courage, fortitude, and equanimity, he rivalled the moft eminent warriors of antiquity; and his natural fagacity made amends for the defects of his education, which had not been properly fuperintended. He was religious, temperate, generally juft and fincere, a ftranger to violent tranfports of paflion, and might have paffed for one of the best princes of the age in which he lived, had he never afcended the throne of Great Britain. But the diftinguishing criterion of his character was ambition; to this he facrificed the punctilios of honour and decorum, in depofing his own fatherin-law and uncle; and this he gratified at the expence of the nation that raifed him to fovereign authority. He afpired to the honour of acting as umpire in all the contefts of Europe; and the fecond object of his attention was, the profperity of that country to which he owed his birth and extraction. Whether he really thought the interefts of the Continent and Great Britain were infeparable, or fought only to drag England into the confederacy as a convenient ally; certain it is, he involved thefe kingdoms in foreign connections, which, in all probability, will be productive of their ruin. In order to establish this favourite point, he fcrupled not to employ all the engines of corruption, by which means the morals of the nation were totally debauched. He procured a parliamentary fanction for a standing army, which now feems to be interwoven in the conftitution. He introduced the pernicious practice of borrowing upon remote funds; an expedient that neceffarily hatched a brood of ufurers, brokers, and ftock-jobbers, to prey upon the vitals of their country. He entailed upon the nation a growing debt, and a fyllem of politics big with mifery, defpair, and deftruction. To fum up his character in a few words, William was a fatalitt in religion, indefatigable in war, enterprifing in politics, dead to all the warm and generous emotions of the human heart, a cold relation, an indifferent husband, a dilagrecable man, an ungracious prince, and an imperious fovereign. Died Marca 8th, 1701, aged 52, having reigned 13 years. Smellett. $107. Another Character of WILLIAM III. William the Third, king of Great Britain and Ireland, was in his perfon of middle fize, ill-fhaped in his limbs, fomewhat round in his fhoulders, light brown in the colour of his hair, and in his complexion. The lines of his face were hard, and his nofe was aquiline; but a good and penetrating eye threw a kind of light on his countenance, which tempered its severity, and rendered his harth features, in fome meafure, agreeable. Though his conftitution was weak, delicate, and infirm, he loved the manly exercifes of the field; and often indulged himfelf in the pleasures, and even fometimes in the exceffes, of the table. In his private character he was frequently harfh, paffionate, and fevere, with regard to trifles; but when the fubject rofe equal to his mind, and in the tumult of battle, he was dignified, cool, and ferene. Though he was apt to form bad impreffions, which were not eafily removed, he was neither vindictive in his difpofition, nor obflinate in his resentiment. Neglected in his education, and, perhaps, deftitute by nature of an elegance of mind, he had no tafte for literature, none for the fciences, none for the beautiful arts. He paid no attention to mufic, he underfood no poetry; he difregarded learning; he encouraged no men of letters, no painters, no artists of any kind. In fortification and the mathematics he had a co fiderable degree of knowledge. Though unfuccessful in the field, he understood military operations by land; but he neither p ffeffed nor pretended to any skill in maritime affairs. In the diftributions of favours he was cold and injudicious. In the punishment of crimes, often too eafy, and fometimes too fevere. He was parfimonious where he fhould have been liberal; where he ought to be fparing, frequently profufe. In his temper he was filent and reserved, in his addrefs ungraceful; and though not deftitute of diflimulation, and qualified for intrigue, lefs apt to conceal his paffions than his defigns: thefe defect, rather than vices of the mind, combining with an indifference about humouring mankind through their ruling paffions, rendered him extremely unfit for gaining the affections of the English nation. His reign, therefore, was crowded with mortifications of various kinds; the difcontented parties among his fubjects found no difficulty in eftranging the minds of the people from a U u 4 prince prince poffeffed of few talents to make him popular. He was trufted, perhaps, lefs than he deferved, by the mot obfequious of his parliaments; but it feems, upon the whole, apparent, that the nation adhered to his government more from a fear of the return of his predeceffor, than from any attachment to his own perfon, or refpect for his right to the throne. Macpherfon. 108. Character of MARY, Queen Con fort of WILLIAM III. Mary was in her perfon tall and well proportioned, with an oval vifage, lively eyes, agreeable features, a mild afpect, and an air of dignity. Her apprehenfion was clear, her memory tenacious, and her judgment folid. She was a zealous Proteftant, fcrupulously exact in all the duties of devotion, of an even temper, of a calm and mild converfation; fhe was ruffled by no paffion, and feems to have been a franger to the emotions of natural affection, for fhe afcended the throne from which her father had been depofed, and treated her fifter as an alien to her blood. In a word, Mary feems to have imbibed the cold difpofition and apathy of her hufband, and to have centered all her ambition in deferving the epithet of an humble and obedient wife. Smollett. Died 28th December, 1694, aged 33. § 109. Character of ANNE. The queen continued to dofe in a lethargic infenfibility, with very fhort intervals, till the first day of Auguft in the morning, when the expired, in the fiftieth year of her age, and in the thirteenth of her reign. Anne Stuart, queen of Groat Britain, was in her perfon of the middle fize, well proportioned; her hair was of dark brown colour, her complexion ruddy, her features were regular, her countenance was rather round than oval, and her afpect more comely than majeftic: her voice was clear and melodious, and her prefence engaging; her capacity was naturally good, but not much cultivated by learning; nor did the exhibit any marks of extraordinary genius, or perfonal ambition: fhe was certainly deficient in that vigour of mind by which a prince ought to preferve her independence, and avoid the fhares and fetters of fycophants and favourites; but, whatever her weaknets in this particular might have been, the virtues of her heart were never called in queftion; f was a pattern of conjugal affection and fidelity, a tender mo ther, a warm friend, an indulgent mistress, a munificent patron, a mild and merciful princefs; during whofe reign no blood was fhed for treafon.. She was zealously attached to the Church of England, from conviction rather than from prepoffeffion; unaffectedly pious, juft, charitable, and compaffionate. She felt a mother's fondness for her people, by whom she was universally beloved with a warmth of affection which even the prejudice of party could not abate. In a word, if she was not the greatest, she was certainly one of the best and most unblemished fovereigns that ever fat upon the throne of England, and well deserved the expreffive, though fimple epithet of, the good queen Anne." Smollett. She died in 1714. § 110. Another Character of ANNE. Thus died Anne Stuart, queen of Great Britain, and one of the best and greatest monarchs that ever filled that throne. What was moft remarkable, was a clear harmonious voice, always admired in her graceful delivery of her fpeeches to parliament, infomuch that it used to be a common faying in the mouth of every one, that her very fpeech was mufic."> Good-nature, the true characteristic of the Stuarts, predominated in her temper, which was a compound of benevolence, generofity, indolence, and timidity, but not without a due fenfibility of any flight which the thought was offered to her perfon or her dignity; to thefe all her actions, both as a monarch and as a woman, may be afcribed; thefe were the fources both of her virtues and her failings; her greatest bleffing upon earth was that entire union of affections and inclinations between her and her royal confort; which made them a perfect pattern of conjugal love. She was a fond and tender mother, an eafy and indulgent miftrefs, and a most gracious fovereign; but he had more than once reafon to repent her giving up her heart, and trufting her fecrets without referve to her favourites. She retained to the last the principle of that true religion which the had imbibed early; being devout without affectation, and charitable without oftentation, She had a great reverence for clergymen eminent for learning and good lives, and was particularly beneficent to the poorer fort of them, of which the left an evidence which bears her name, and will perpetuate both that and her bounty to all facceeding generations. Chamberlaine. § 111. Another Character of ANNE. Thus died Anne Stuart, queen of Great Britain and Ireland, in the fiftieth year of her age, and thirteenth of her reign. In her person she was of a middle ftature, and, before the bore children, well made. Her hair was dark, her complexion fanguine, her features ftrong, but not irregular, her whole countenance more dignified than agreeable. In the accomplishments of the mind, as a woman, fhe was not deficient; fhe understood mufic; fhe loved painting; she had even fome tafte for works of genius; he was always generous, fometimes liberal, but never profufe. Like the reft of the family, fhe was good-natured to a degree of weakness; indolent in her difpofition, timid by nature, devoted to the company of her favourites, eafily led. She poffeffed all the virtues of her father, except political courage; fhe was fubject to all his weakneffes, except enthufiafm in religion; fhe was jealous of her authority, and fullenly irreconcilable towards thofe who treated either herself or prerogative with difrefpect; but, like him alfo, fhe was much better qualified to difcharge the duties of a private life than to act the part of a fovereign. As a friend, a mother, a wife, the deferved every praife. Her condut as a daughter could fcarcely be exceeded by a virtue much fuperior to all thefe. Upon the whole, though her reign was crowded with great events, the cannot, with any juftice, be called a great princess. Subject to terror, beyond the conftitutional timidity of her fex, fhe was altogether incapable of decifive counfels, and nothing but her irrefiftible popularity could have fupported her authority amidit the ferment of those distracted times. $112. Macpherson. The Charater of MARY Queen of SCOTS. To all the charms of beauty, and the utmost elegance of external form, Mary added thofe accomplishments which render their impreffion irrefiftible. Polite, affable, infinuating, fprightly, and capable of fpeaking and of writing with equal eafe and dignity. Sudden, however, and violent in all her attachments; becaufe her heart was warm and unfufpicious. Impatient of contradiction, because she had been accustomed from her infancy to be treated as a queen. No firanger, on fome occaions, to diffimulation; which, in that per fidious court where the received her education, was reckoned among the neceffary arts of government. Not infenfible to flattery, or unconfcious of that pleasure, with which almost every woman beholds the influence of her own beauty. Formed with the qualities that we love, not with the talents that we admire; fhe was an agreeable woman rather than an illustrious queen. The vivacity of her spirit, not fufficiently tempered with found judgment, and the warmth of her heart, which was not at all times under the restraint of difcretion, betrayed her both into errors and into crimes. To fay that fhe was always unfortunate, will not account for that long and almoft uninterrupted fucceffion of calamities which befel her; we must likewife add, that fhe was often imprudent. Her paflion for Darnly was rath, youthful, and exceffive. And though the fudden tranfition to the oppofite extreme was the natural effect of her ill-requited love, and of his ingratitude, infolence, and brutality; yet neither thefe, nor Bothwell's artful addrefs and important fervices, can justify her attachments to that nobleman. Even the manners of the age, licentious as they were, are no apology for this unhappy paffion; nor can they induce us to look on that tragical and infamous fcene, which followed upon it, with lefs abhorrence. Humanity will draw a veil over this part of her character, which it cannot approve, and may, perhaps, prompt fome to impute her actions to her fituation, more than to her difpofition; and to lament the unhappiness of the former, rather than accufe the perverfenefs of the latter. Mary's fufferings exceed, both in degree and in duration, thofe tragical diftreffes which fancy has feigned to excite forrow and commiferation; and while we furvey them, we are apt altogether to forget her frailties, we think of her faults with lefs indignation, and approve of our tears, as if they were fhed for a perfon who had attained much nearer to pure virtue. With regard to the queen's perfon, a circumftance not to be omitted in writing the hiftory of a female reign, all contemporary authors agree in afcribing to Mary the utmost beauty of countenance and elegance of fhape of which the human form is capable. Her hair was black, though, according to the fashion of that age, fhe frequently wore borrowed locks, and of different colours. Her eyes were a dark grey, her complexion was exquifitely fine, and |