annals. No record attests that Egbert, in a solemn coronation, assumed the title of "King of England." His son and successor never claimed such a legitimate title; and even our illustrious Alfred subsequently only styled himself "King of the West Saxons."

The story, however, is of ancient standing; for Matthew of Westminster alludes to a similar if not the same incident: namely, that by 66 a common decree of all the Saxon Kings, it was ordained that the title of the island should no longer be Britain, from Brute, but henceforward be called, from the English, England." Stowe furnishes a positive circumstance of this obscure transaction. "Egbert caused the brazen image of Cadwaline, King of the Britons, to be thrown down." The decree noticed by Matthew of Westminster, combined with the fact of pulling down the statue of a popular British monarch, betrays the real motive of this singular national change; whether it were the suggestion of Egbert or the unanimous agreement of the assembled monarchs who were his tributary kings, it was a stroke of deep political wisdom; it knitted the members into one common body, under one name, abolishing by legislative measures the very memory of Britain from the land. Although, therefore, no positive evidence has been produced, the state policy carries an internal evidence which yields some sanction to the tradition.

It is a nicer difficulty to account for the choice of the Anglian name. It might have been preferred to distinguish the Saxons of Britain from the Saxons of the continent; or the name was adopted being that of the far more numerous race among these people. Four kingdoms of the Octarchy were possessed by the

Angles. Thus doubtful and obscure remains the real origin of our national name, which hitherto has hinged on a suspicious fact.

The casual occurrence of the Engles leaving their name to this land, has bestowed on our country a foreign designation; and-for the contingency was nearly occurring-had the kingdom of Northumbria preserved its ascendency in the Octarchy, the seat of dominion had been altered. In that case, the low lands of Scotland would have formed a portion of England; York would have stood forth as the metropolis of Britain, and London had been but a remote mart for her port and her commerce. Another idiom, perhaps, too, other manners, had changed the whole face of the country. We had been Northmen, not Southerns; our neighbourhood had not proved so troublesome to France. But the kingdom of Wessex prevailed, and became the sole monarchy of England. Such local contingencies have decided the character of a whole people.

The history of local names is one of the most capricious and fortuitous in the history of man; the etymologist must not be implicitly trusted, for it is necessary to be acquainted with the history of a people, as much as the history of languages, to be certain of local derivations. We have recently been cautioned by a sojourner in the most ancient of kingdoms, not too confidently to rely on etymology, or to assign too positively any reason for the origin of local names. No etymologist could have accounted for the name of our nation, had he not had recourse to our annals. Sir Walter Raleigh,

from his observations in the New World, has confirmed

this observation by circumstances which probably remain unknown to the present inhabitants. The actual names given to those places in America, which they still retain, are nothing more than the blunders of the first Europeans, demanding by signs, and catching at words, by which neither party was intelligible to the other.-D'Israeli's Amenities of Literature.

DEATH OF MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS.

The procession moved forward in the following order. First came the sheriff and his men; next Mary's keepers, Sir Amyas Paulet and Sir Drue Drury; the Earl of Kent and Beal; then the Earl of Shrewsbury as Earl Marshal, bearing his baton raised, immediately preceding the royal victim, who, having rallied all the energies of her courageous spirit to vanquish bodily infirmity, moved with a proud, firm step. She was followed by Melville, who bore her train, and her two weeping ladies clad in mourning weeds. The rear was brought up by Bourgoigne, Gourion, and Gervais, her three medical attendants. A platform, twelve feet square and two and a half high, covered with black cloth, and surrounded with a rail, had been erected at the upper end of the great banqueting hall at Fotheringay, near the fireplace, in which, on account of the coldness of the weather, a large fire was burning. On the scaffold was placed the block, the axe, a chair also, covered with black cloth for the queen, with a cushion "of crimson velvet before it, and two stools for the Earls of Kent and Shrewsbury. About a hundred gentlemen who had been admitted to behold the mournful spec

tacle stood at the lower end of the hall; but the scaffold was barricaded, and a strong guard of the sheriff's and marshal's men environed it to prevent the possibility of

a rescue.

The dignified composure and melancholy sweetness of her countenance, in which the intellectual beauty of reflective middle age had superseded the charms that in youth had been celebrated by all the poets of France and Scotland, her majestic and intrepid demeanour made a profound impression on every one present, when Mary Stuart and her sorrowful followers entered the hall of death. She surveyed the sable scaffold, the block, the axe, the executioner and spectators undauntedly as she advanced to the foot of the scaffold. There she paused, for she required assistance. Sir Amyas Paulet tendered her his hand to aid her in ascending the two steps by which it was approached. Mary accepted the proffered attention of her jailer with the queenly courtesy that was natural to her. "I thank you, Sir," she said, "this is the last trouble I shall ever give you."

Having calmly seated herself in the chair that had been provided for her, with the two Earls standing on either side, and the executioner in front holding the axe, with the edge towards her, Beale sprang upon the scaffold with unfeeling alacrity, and read the deathwarrant in a loud voice. She listened to it with a serene and even smiling countenance; but, as before, bowed her head, and crossed herself when it was concluded, in token of her submission to the will of God. "Now, Madam," said the Earl of Shrewsbury, "you see" what you have to do." She answered briefly and emphatically, "Do your duty." Then she asked for her

almoner, that she might pray with him; but this being denied, Dr. Fletcher, the Dean of Peterborough, standing directly before her without the rails, and bending his body very low, began to address her.

"Mr. Dean, trouble not yourself nor me," said the Queen, "for know that I am settled in the ancient Catholic and Roman faith, in defence whereof, by God's grace, I mind to spend my blood." "Madam," replied the Dean, "change your opinion, and repent of your former wickedness." "Good Mr. Dean," rejoined she, "trouble not yourself any more about this matter, I was born in this religion, and am resolved to die in this religion." The Earls, perceiving her resolution was not to be shaken, said, "Madam, we will pray for your grace, with Mr. Dean, that you may have your mind lightened with the true knowledge of God and his word." "My Lords," replied the Queen, "if you will pray with me, I will even from my heart thank you, but to pray with you, in your manner, who are not of the same religion with me were a sin." The Earls then bade the Dean " say on according to his own pleasure." This he did, not by reciting the beautiful office for the dying, or the burial service from our Anglican church, but in a bitter polemic composition of his own, tending neither to comfort nor edification. Mary heeded him not, but began to pray with absorbing and tearful earnestness from her own breviary, and the psalter, uniting portions from the 31st, 51st, and 91st psalms. She prayed in Latin, in French, and finally in English, for God to pardon her sins and forgive her foes; for Christ's afflicted Church; for the peace and prosperity of England and Scotland; for her son, and for Queen

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