but Orderly,Gravely, and Maturely; after a Conference betwixt the Parties, and the Calling, and Conclufion of a Parliament: And thus at laft, and that too within the Compass of one revolving Year, the fo order'd and establish'd all Things belonging to the Church, that fhe did not fuffer the leaft Tittle of them to be altered, during her whole Life. Nay, and at every Meeting of Parliament, almost, her publick Admonition was, that no Innovation might be made in the Discipline or Rites of the Church. And thus much of her Religion. Now, fhould any of the graver Sort aggravate thefe Levities; That fhe fuffered her felf, and loved to be Admired, and Courted, nay, and to have Love-Verfes made in her Praife; and that she continued thefe Things longer than was decent for her Years: Yet if you take, even thefe Matters in a milder Senfe, they are not without their due Admiration; fince they are fuch Things as are often to be found in Fa Fabukus Narrations; as of a certain Queen in the Fortunate lands, in whose Court Love-Making was allowed, but Lasciviousness banished: But if a harfher Conftruction be put upon them, even so they are to be admired, and that very highly too, fince these Dalliances did not much eclipfe her Fame, and not at all her Majefty; neither relax'd her Government, nor were observ'd to be any Hindrance to her Affairs. For thefe fort of Things frequently mix with a publick Fortune, and check with Business. BUT to Conclude this ESSAY: This PRINCESS was certainly Good and Moral; and as fuch fhe defired to appear: She hated Vice, and study'd to grow famous by Honourable Courses. And indeed upon the naming of her Morals, fomething comes into my Mind to mention. When she had ordered an Exprefs to be written to her Ambaffador, concerning certain Instructions, which he was privately to impart to the Queen-Mother, of the House C House of Valois; and that her Secretáry had inferted a certain Claufe, that the Ambassador, to Ingratiate himself, as it were, should fay, That they were two Female Princes, from whom, for: Experience, and for the Skill and Arts of Government, there was no less expected, than from the greatest Men; She cou'd not bear the Comparison, but order'd it to be ftruck out, and faid, That she ufed quite different Arts and Methods of Government. SHE was alfo not a little pleas'd, if any one by chance had dropt fuch an Expreffion as this, That tho' fhe had Spent her Days in a private and mean Station, yet he could not have pass'd her Life without fome Note of Excellence in the Eye of the World. So unwilling was fhe that any of her Virtue and Praise fhould be owing to the Grandeur of her Fortune. BUT if I fhould enter upon her Praises, whether Moral or Political, I muft either fall into certain common Places, and Commemorations of VirVOL. I. Gg tues, tues, which would be unworthy fo rare a Princess; or if I would give them their proper Luftre and Grace, I must run out into a Hiftory of her Life, which requires both more Leifure, and a richer and more copious Vein. For I have given you here but a fhort Account, according to my Ability. But, to speak Truth, the only proper Encomiaft of this LADY is Time; which, for as many Ages as it hath run, hath produced nothing like her (of the fame Sex) for the Adminiftration of a State. PARA PARABLES OF SOLOMON, Explained, and Culled out of the Book of Proverbs, for an Example of that Wisdom, which is to be exercised in Business, upon various Occafions. I Tranflated from his Lordship's Eighth The EXPLICATION. F the Wrath of a Prince, or of a Superior, be kindled against thee, and it now be thy Turn to speak, Solomon gives two Rules: One, That an Anfier be made; The other, That the fame be Gg 2 Soft. |