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between this country and Russia, from which her successors derived so much advantage. He might have added her salutary restoration of the humane provisions of the common law respecting the proceedings for treason; her limiting treasons and misprisions of treason to those which were declared to be such by the 25th of Edward the third; her liberal reversals of outlawries, and her humane and generous injunctions, to sir Richard Morgan, when she appointed him judge of the Common Pleas, by which she signified, that, "notwithstanding the "old error which did not admit any witness to "speak, or any other matter to be heard, in favour "of her adversary, in causes in which her majesty

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was a party; her majesty's pleasure neverthe"less was, that whatsoever could be brought in "favour of the subject, should be admitted to be "heard; and moreover, that justices should not persuade themselves to sit in judgment other'wise for her highness, than for her subjects."

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Fuller* does her greater justice :-"Take queen Mary," he says, "abstracted from her opinions, "and by herself, secluded from her bloody counsellors, and her memory will justly come under "commendation. Indeed, she knew not the art of

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being popular. She hated to equivocate in her religion, and was what she was, without dissem"bling her judgment for fear or flattery. Little "beloved of her subjects, to whom though once she "remitted an entire subsidy, yet it little moved "their affections, because, though liberal in this *Book viii. s. 53.

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act, she had been unjust in another, —her breach of promise to the gentry of Norfolk and Suffolk.

However, she had been a worthy princess, had as "little cruelty been done under her as was done by "her*."

* Sir William Blackstone also observes, (Comm. book. iv. c. 33,) that many popular and salutary laws in civil matters were made during her administration. No code of law contains a wiser lesson to princes than that expressed in the first act of her reign;—“ Forasmuch as the state of every king, "ruler, and governor of any realm, dominion, or commonalty, "standeth and consisteth more assured by the love and favour "of the subject, toward their sovereign, ruler, and governor, "than in the dread and fear of laws, made with rigorous pains " and extreme punishment, for not obeying of their sovereign, "ruler, and governor: and laws also justly made for the "preservation of the commonwealth, without extreme punish"ment or great penalty, are more often, for the most part, obeyed and kept, than laws and statutes made with "great and extreme punishments, and in special, such laws “and statutes so made, whereby not only the ignorant and "rude unlearned people, but also learned and expert people, "minding honesty, are often and many times trapped and "snared, yea' many times for words only, without either fact or deed done or perpetrated.

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"The queen's most excellent majesty, calling to remem"brance that many, as well honourable and noble persons, as "other of good reputation within this her grace's realm of "England, have of late (for words only, without other opinion,

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fact, or deed) suffered shameful death not accustomed to "nobles; her higliness therefore, of her accustomed clemency " and mercy, minding to avoid and put away the occasion and "cause of like chances hereafter to ensue, trusting her loving "subjects will, for her clemency to them showed, love, serve, "and obey her grace the more heartily and faithfully, than " for dread or fear of pains of body, is contented and pleased "that the severity of such like extreme dangerous and

CHAP. XXII.

QUEEN ELIZABETH.

1558.

THE commencement of the reformation in England, in the reign of Henry the eighth, its progress during the reign of Edward the sixth, and its interruption in the reign of Mary, have been mentioned: some account will now be given of its completion, in the reign of Elizabeth: we shall therefore attempt to present the reader with a general view of her first measures. Under this head, we shall endeavour to give a succinct account, I. Of her being proclaimed queen of England, and her progress to

"painful laws, shall be abolished, annulled, and made frustrate " and void."

It adds to the merit of this benign legislative declaration of Mary, that it was made by her after several treasons and treasonable practices against her, had been perpetrated; and, while it was known that some were carrying on and others meditated.

And, in respect to the executions in her reign for heresy, when it is admitted, that they can neither be denied nor excused, it should not be forgotten that similar guilt is justly imputable to many sovereigns, some of whom enjoy a considerable portion of historic fame.-It should also be recollected, that some, who were executed in her reign for heresy, might have justly been executed for treason;-other sovereigns, more politically, but certainly not more justly, converted what they deemed heresy into treason, and punished the convict not as a heretic, but as a traitor.

London: II. Of her coronation: III. Of the division of the nation at this time into a catholic and a protestant party: IV. Of the subdivision of the latter into Lutherans: V. Zuinglians: VI. And the successors of these, the Calvinists, or Puritans: VII. Of the preference given by the queen to the protestant party: VIII. Of her notifying to Paul the fourth, her accession to the throne, and the manner in which he received the intelligence: IX. And of the more conciliatory proceedings of Pius the fourth, his immediate successor.

XXII. 1.

The first Measures of queen Elizabeth.

QUEEN Mary was succeeded by her sister Elizabeth, the only child, then living, of Henry the eighth; Ferdinand of Austria, being, at this time, emperor; Henry the second, king of France; Philip the second, king of Spain; and Paul the fourth, filling the Roman see.

At the moment of Mary's decease, both houses of parliament were sitting. Information of the event being brought to the house of lords, they sent a message to the house of commons, requesting their attendance. When the members arrived, the lord chancellor Heath, archbishop of York, announced the event: he observed, that the succession to the crown belonged, of right, to the princess Elizabeth, and that she should be instantly proclaimed queen of England. The proclamation was immediately made by the king at arms.

-The news of the decease of Mary reached Elizabeth at Hatfield. On the 29th of November 1558, she proceeded to London, attended, says Heylin, by a great and royal train, and an infinite concourse of people, expressing their feelings by loud acclamations and every other demonstration of joy. She delighted them by the affability of her manner, and the share which she seemed to take in the general sentiment. At Highgate, she was met by all the bishops: from Bonner, as a man of blood, she turned with disgust: the others she received courteously, and permitted them to kiss her hand. At Bishopsgate, she was met by the lord mayor and all the city companies. Thus escorted, she reached the Tower. At her entrance into it, "she rendered," says Heylin, her most humble thanks to Almighty God, "for the great change in her condition, in bringing her, from being a prisoner in that place, to be "the princess of her people; and now, to take

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possession of it as a royal palace, in which, before, "she had received so much discomfort." On the decease of Mary, the lords assembled in council had given immediate orders for the stopping of all ports and havens, in order that no intelligence of the event might be carried out of the realm; but finding so general a concurrence of the people in favour of Elizabeth, they removed the embargo.

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