mon cause.

that the queen took no insulting precautions against them, signalized themselves in the comThus Elizabeth soon had a fleet of 140 sail, and an army of 80,000 men. Nor was the queen herself wanting in fortitude upon this awakening occasion. She showed that the spirit of her ancestors was glowing in her bosom.

She appeared on horseback in the front of the army, and raised the fervour and courage of its officers and soldiers to the highest pitch, by the awakening address which she made to them. "Should it be necessary my friends, (exclaimed Elizabeth,) I will combat at your head. I will shed my blood for my people. If I have only the arm of a woman, I have the heart of a king; and, what is more, of a king of England." By the skill and bravery of the English admirals and sailors, the Spanish Armada was so harrassed and weakened, that Farnese refused to embark his chosen troops as long as the English fleet should be mistress of the seas. A dreadful tempest completed the work of destruction, and the poor and shattered remnant of the Invincible Armada, with difficulty, returned to Spain.

Queen Elizabeth died A.D. 1603, having lived seventy, and reigned forty-five years.

Elizabeth possessed great abilities and great fortitude. She certainly assumed a high degree of arbitrary power, and was impetuous and impatient of opposition; yet, in general, she exercised the royal authority with wisdom and firmness. By her prudent choice of ministers, of admirals, and of generals, she manifested uncommon discernment of character, and the art

of properly adapting talents and characters to situations and employments. Though she had, at times, her favourites, yet was she never so weak as to permit them to govern her. Her treatment of Mary queen of Scots was, undoubtedly, a blemish, and a great one; and occasioned a remorse, which, probably, hastened and embittered her death.

Translation from ROUSTAN.

JAMES II. - REVOLUTION.

WILLIAM III.

THE defeat and death of the duke of Monmouth caused the character of James to unfold and show itself completely. His cruelty, his bigotry, his arbitrary oppression, alienated the hearts of his subjects from him. The nation saw, with consternation, that their sovereign was ready to sacrifice not only their rights and liberties, but even his own personal interests, for the re-establishment of that form of religion to which he was blindly and superstitiously attached. To oppose his mischievous measures was a common object, which united all parties; and all parties fixed their eyes upon William, Prince of Orange, as their future deliverer from slavery. He had married the princess Mary, the eldest daughter of James, but having obtained her of Charles II., and not of her father, he did not think that a connection so formed ought to

overbalance the interest of the three kingdoms, of Holland itself, of which he was chief magistrate, and, indeed, of all Europe. He therefore scrupled not to oppose the fanaticism and tyranny of James. As much as that monarch was detested by his people, so was William dear to the United States. They furnished him with money, with vessels of war, and transports, and with an army of fifteen thousand men. Louis XIV., foresaw the storm, and offered to James, his ally, all his power to dissipate it. James feared that a trifling assistance would rather increase the hatred, than excite the respect, of his subjects; and that should a numerous French army be landed in England, it would set him at the mercy of his protector. He therefore refused the offer. Thus the suspicions which tyrants entertain of one another, not unfrequently aid the cause of liberty.

The English despot now found himself in that disagreeable situation, in which, whatsoever resolutions may be adopted, they must be attended with inevitable inconveniences and with uncertain advantages. He had, still, however, a fleet, and an army of 30,000 men; but a strong east wind, at the same time, wafted the vessels of the Prince of Orange to Torbay, on the coast of Devon, and drove those of king James into the river Thames; and soon after William had disembarked, and had made some progress, whole regiments of the English went over to him in bodies. The Clergy, the Nobility, George Prince of Denmark, who was married to Anne, the second daughter of the king, and even that

princess herself successively deserted the unfortunate monarch, whose absurd and unjust conduct had deprived him of the attachment even of those of his own household. In this general abandonment, James was still more wanting to himself. As cowardly in adversity as he had been proud, insolent, and inhuman in prosperity, he began to dread the axe which had cut the thread of his father's life, and took to flight to save himself from its imaginary terrors.

He had reached Feversham, in his flight, with only one attendant, when he was recognized by some gentlemen, who opposed his escape, and conducted him back to London; where, the populace, passing suddenly from contempt to pity, received him with acclamations. But this was merely a passing gleam of sunshine, an ebullition of popular caprice.

William caused James' guard to be relieved by Dutch soldiers, and even intimated to him that it might be a prudent step if he quitted the capital, and repaired to some country residence. He requested as a favour, permission to go to Rochester; and the prince was the more ready to grant this favour, as he plainly saw that his father-in-law preferred that place, in order to be within reach of passing over to France; which was just what he himself most wished.

Before, however, he executed so desperate a measure, James waited a few days to see whether his subjects might make any movement in his favour.

No such movement was made. Every thing remained tranquil. The deserted monarch grew

tired of exhibiting to the world the spectacle of majesty in eclipse; he hired a vessel, which conveyed him to Picardy, whence he went to St. Germain, whither his son and his queen had preceded him. Louis received them all with that kindness which is due to the unfortunate, and endeavoured to console them with the prospect of his avenging their quarrel. The English and Scottish Parliaments, after some previous deliberations, conferred the crown upon their deliverer, and more exactly defined and fixed its prerogatives.

Thus was accomplished in the space of a few months, that great revolution, to which the three united kingdoms owe their religion, their liberty, their prosperity.

It

A revolution unexampled in the history of the world, for the rapidity and unanimity which accompanied it, and yet more to be admired for the moderation with which it was crowned. cost only one life; namely, that of Jeffries, the cruel and unjust judge, who had been the ready instrument, the eager agent of the barbarous revenge of the monarch, who, without a struggle, yielded up that throne which he had disgraced by tyranny and miserable superstition.

The contest between William and James was not, however, yet, completely ended. Dublin, and a large part of Ireland still adhered to the Stuart family. Louis sent his brother despot to that island with thirty-six ships of war, on board of which were six thousand troops. They were received as friends, by twenty thousand Irish in arms! William saw, and hastened to prevent