BETH. stood Greek and Spanish; she translated "Sallust de Bello ELIZAJugurthino," the greatest part of" Horace de Arte Poetica," and "Plutarch de Curiositate;" she had a good ear for music, and played upon several instruments. Her mien and behaviour were graceful and majestic; and being prepared to answer ambassadors' speeches in the language they were delivered, and discourse upon government and the state of foreign kingdoms, she appeared with great advantage at her giving audience, and upon other public occasions. Thus, the duke of Anjou and other strangers of quality are said to have admired her extremely. She was generally awake for the functions of government. Her measures for precaution were well taken: her conduct rested upon art, and her politics were carried to the furthest improvement; and when the prospect was black and the crisis grew dangerous, nothing was more brave than this princess. For instance, when the Spanish Armada was ready to descend upon the kingdom, she appeared at Tilbury with an air of resolution, rode about the army, harangued her troops, and encouraged them like an heroine. Neither was she less remarkable in her administration at home. She knew how to govern her dominions, as well as guard them. She always took care to keep a due distance between the subject and sovereign, and never suffered her people," either without doors or within," to grow upon the prerogative; and notwithstanding these reserves of majesty, this holding the reins streight and keeping the spirit of government always stirring, she avoided the imputation of a rigid prince, and gained the affections of the generality. She had the secret of engaging the people, without lessening her authority; was condescensive and popular in her gestures and discourse; and knew how to stoop, without shrinking her stature. And, to make her management more acceptable, she never burthened the country with unnecessary taxes; and that which was given was constantly applied to the public benefit. To which I may add, the recovery of the mint to a just standard of fineness. In short, had the interest of her subjects lain wholly in this world, few princes would have left their memory better recommended. But, as to the service of religion, I am sorry I cannot say GIFT, Abp Cant. Harrington's Brief View. WHIT her conduct was altogether so happy. She restored the Reformation, it is true, but in many places left little provision to maintain it. She drew back the patrimony of the Church restored by her sister queen Mary, and reached somewhat unkindly into the remainder. To give an instance or two further of the depredations during this reign: the bishopric of Ely, after Cox's death, was kept vacant near twenty years, and the people almost left "like sheep without a shepherd." It is said the ejected king of Portugal was subsisted with rents. And when the see was filled, the next successor, Heaton, found most of the manors wrested from it. Sir John Harrington confesses this kind of management was reckoned one of the blemishes of her reign. The taking away the bishops' lands, and returning the lamentable exchange of impropriations, was a great blow to the Church: for, not to mention these impropriations were part of the consecrated revenues,-not to mention the exchange was far short of an equivalent,-not to mention this,-the forcing the bishops to subsist on these parochial endowments put them out of capacity of relieving the poor vicars, which in many places are very despicably provided for. To give some modern proof of this matter: when White, This account bishop of Peterborough, visited the diocese of Lincoln, in I received the reign of king James II., part of this prelate's report to rend clergy his majesty was this: "That for about thirty miles together had it from beyond Lincoln, many of the livings were worth but five pounds per annum, and none more than ten." And, to set 670. this matter in a fuller light, I shall give the reader a computation of the livings in England, and subjoin an authentic account of the slender value of most of them. from a reve man, who the bishop himself. See Records, num. 99. nation. To return if it is said queen Elizabeth had an act of parliament to justify her taking away the bishops' lands, I grant she had so; but then it must be considered her At her coro- majesty had solemnly sworn to maintain the clergy in their rights and privileges. The difficulty, therefore, will be to reconcile her passing this bill with the coronation-oath. However, the knot was cut, and the scruple mastered; and, was preach- which is more, the act was driven home in the execution,— ed before the insomuch, that Wickham, bishop of Winchester, had the year 1595. bold honesty to tell the queen, in a sermon, that if the This sermon queen in the BETH. Harring temporalities of the bishops should suffer the next thirty ELIZAyears as much as they had done for thirty years last past, there would scarcely be enough remaining on any see to ton's Brief keep the cathedral in repair. View, &c. p. 66. These things considered, if this queen's usage of the clergy was compared with what they met with in the reign of Henry VIII., it is to be feared it might be said, “Her little finger was thicker than her father's loins ;" and that he "disciplined them with whips," but she "chastised them 1 Kings 12. with scorpions." And, as to the parallel between this princess 10, 11. and her sister queen Mary, may it not be affirmed, that the one made martyrs in the Church, and the other beggars ;the one executed the men, and the other the estates? And therefore, reserving the honour of the Reformation to queen Elizabeth, the question will be, whether the resuming the first-fruits and tenths, putting many of the vicarages in this deplorable condition, and settling a perpetuity of poverty upon the Church, was not much more prejudicial than fire and fagot? Whether destroying bishoprics is not a much greater hardship than destroying bishops? Because this severity affects succession, and reaches down to future ages. And, lastly, whether, as the world goes, it is not more easy to recruit bishops, than the revenues to support them? But this only by way of query: and so much for queen Elizabeth's reign. THE END OF THE SEVENTH BOOK. AN ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. PART II-BOOK VIII. GIFT, Abp Cant, 671. Urox the death of queen Elizabeth, king James VI. of Scotland was proclaimed in London. And now Sir Charles Percy, brother to the earl of Northumberland, and Thomas April, Somerset, brother to the earl of Worcester, were dispatched 4. D. 1603 James by the privy council to acquaint his majesty with the queen's proclaimed, decease, and with what had passed for recognizing his right. to ng Upon this news the king prepares for his journey into England, and made a speech to the people at Edinburgh, who parted with him not without regret. He told them, "they should find the effects of his government no less beneficial at a distance than when he continued with them: and since his power was increased, his affections should not grow less." When he came to Berwick, Toby Matthews, bishop of Durham, congratulated his accession to the throne in a At Burleigh-house, near Stamford, his majesty was acquainted with the death of James Beaton, archbishop of Glasgow. This prelate was descended of the house of Balfour in Fife, and consecrated in the year 1552. When The death and character of Beaton, archbishop of Glasgore, the Scotch Reformation began, he quitted the country, and carried away all the manuscripts and records of his see, together with the plate and ornaments of the cathedral. He settled at Paris. Amongst other things of value, conveyed beyond sea by this archbishop, there was a figure of our Saviour in gold, and the twelve Apostles in silver. When the late queen Mary returned from France into Scotland, she gave JAMES I. him a public character, and ordered him to reside at the French court. Under the regencies he was proclaimed rebel, his estate seized, and his see disposed of to several persons successively. The king, when a major, restored him to his honour and fortune, and gave him his former post of ambassador in France. Spotswood gives him the commendation of a worthy person: that he continued loyal to the queen as long as she lived, and was afterwards no less true to the king her son and that he all along served his country to the utmost of his power. He left ten thousand crowns for breeding poor Scotchmen to learning. The records, plate, and other things of value carried along with him, he lodged in the hands of the Carthusians at Paris, with a clause in his will for restoring them when Glasgow turned Catholic. : Spotswood's tans omit the Church. In England, those who were puritanically inclined, pre- The Purisuming either upon the king's favour or connivance, began ceremonies to maim the Church service, to forbear, the use of the of the surplice, and omit the ceremonies. These omissions they hoped might be acceptable to the king, considering his education, and the practice of the Scotch Kirk; but 672. these men were wide in their conjectures, and miscalculated upon his majesty's inclination for soon after his coming into England a proclamation was issued out, for- 4 proclamabidding all manner of innovation either in doctrine or innovation. discipline. But all those affected to Presbyterianism were not thus exceptionably forward. Some disliked these sallies of zeal, and resolved to manage by a more regular motion. To this purpose they addressed the king in the name of certain ministers of the Church of England, desiring reformation of sundry ceremonies and abuses. This address was said to be signed by a thousand, and therefore called the "Millennary Petition," though there wanted some hundreds to complete the number. The petition runs thus: tion against "To the most Christian and excellent prince, our gracious The Millenand dread sovereign, James, y the grace of God, &c. rypetiWe, the ministers of the Church of England that desire tion. |