Gray, the Duke of Northumberland her Father-in-Law, the Duke of Suffolk her own Father, the Lord Guilford her Hufband, and his Brother the Lord Thomas Gray, loft their Lives upon the Scaffold. The Lady Jane Gray, then about seventeen Years of Age, was beheaded in the Tower, two Hours after her Husband, and died a standing Monument in History, of Piety, Conftancy, Wifdom, Wit and Learning, above her Age, and beyond her Sex. She fell a Sacrifice to her Friends Ambition, by whofe Prevalency fhe affumed the Crown with Tears. But the Lady Elizabeth, called by the Popish Party, The Hope of Hereticks, remained ftill a Stumbling-block. She was committed, under a flight Pretence of Treafon; and fuffer'd above a Twelvemonth's Confinement, before her Innocence could procure her Liberty. At last, Queen Mary, being near forty Years of Age, married to King Philip of Spain; and this Marriage occafion'd an Infurrection, headed by Sir Francis Wyat, but it proved unsuccessful. 'Twas in this Reign we loft Calais in France, after it had been in our Poffeffion above 200 Years. The Queen died upon it, and with her Life expired a Reign, begun, continued, and ended, in Blood; Happy in nothing but the Shortness of it. She was buried at Westminster.

and

1558. XLIII. ELIZABETH, Daughter of Henry VIII. by Anne of Bullen, his fecond Wife, born at Greenwich, fucceeded next to Queen Mary, her half Sifter. She proved an excellent Queen, the Glory of her Sex, and Admiration of the Age the lived in. She reftored the Reformation, brought it to that Perfection, in which it has continued ever fince in the Church of England: For which fhe was excommunicated by the Pope, and her Subjects abfolved from their Allegiance; which occafion'd Plot upon Plot, and Rebellion upon Rebellion. The Roman Party was powerful in her Time, and ftrove hard to cut her off by Treachery, or dethrone her by Force: But it pleafed God to preferve her, during the whole Courfe of her Reign, from all her Enemies, both at Home and Abroad. Memorable is the Year 1588, for the Spanish Invafion, attempted by King Philip with his Invincible Armada, but disappointed by God's Providence : Whereupon, Queen Elizabeth purfuing her Blow, carried on the War with Spain fo fuccessfully, both in Europe and America, that the English became every where a Terror to the Spaniards, and the very Names of our Chief Commanders, Howard, Effex, Norris, Drake, and Raleigh, ftruck an Awe upon them. Thefe English Worthies took and burnt feveral Places in Spain, particularly Cadiz and the Groyn, intercepted their Plate Fleets, and brought that proud Monarchy fo low, that it could never recover it felf from that Time to this. In Ireland this great Queen quelled two Rebellions, one headed by ONeal, and the other by Tir-Owen. The new

fprung

fprung States of Holland, fhe cherish'd and protected, as she did the Proteftants of France. The whole Ocean fhe commanded, which spread her Fame all over the World, and made it refpected in all Parts. Unhappily, but with much Reluctancy, the confented to the Death of Mary Queen of Scots, charged with High-Treafon in England; where the was fled for Shelter, from a potent Faction in Scotland. The Queen did also very much lament the Death of the Earl of Efex, whofe Fall was occafion'd more by her Favour, than his Crimes. She lived but two Years after, and died a Maiden (but an Heroick Queen) aged 69, and having reigned 44 Years. Weftminster-Abbey is the Place of her Sepulture. 'Twas in her Reign the Inquifition of England was fet up, I mean the StarChamber, and the High-Commiffion Court; which grew fo very grievous, and the Judges thereof fo Arbitrary, that they were both fupprefs'd in the Reign of King Charles I.

Of the Monarchs of Great-Britain, from King
JAMES I. to our present King GEORGE.

T

HE UNION of England and Scotland immediately after
the Deceafe of Queen Elizabeth, happen'd in the Perfon of

I. JAMES I. the firft King of Great-Britain, and the fixth 16024 of that Name in Scotland, who fucceeded Queen Elizabeth in England, as next Heir to the Crown, being defcended from Margaret, eldest Daughter of Henry VII. He was Son of Mary Queen of Scots, beheaded in the late Reign; and fhe was Daughter to James V. of Scotland, Son of James IV. by the forefaid Margaret. . His Father was the Lord Darnley, eldest Son of Matthew Earl of Lenox, defcended from Robert Stuart, the next Succeffor to David Bruce King of Scots. Upon his Succeffion to the Crown of England, he quitted the leffer Kingdom for the greater, and made London the Royal Seat of his three Kingdoms. But, before he left Scotland, he narrowly escap'd a Confpiracy, manag'd against him by the Earl of Gorry, and his Brothers; and foon after his Arrival here, he was wonderfully deliver'd from the Gunpowder-Treafon, hatch'd by the Popish Party; both Church and State being to be destroy'd at once, by blowing up the King and Parliament: The Memory whereof hitherto has been religiously and folemnly kept on the Fifth of November. In this Reign was held a Conference at Hampton-Court, upon a Petition of the Dif fenters for a farther Reformation; but it came to nothing. A Peace was made with Spain, and the King quitted, for a Sum of Money, the Cautionary-Towns we had in Holland, viz, the Brill, Flushing, and others. Amongst fome memorable Things of this

1625.

Reign, I reckon the two Royal Vifits his Majefty received from Christiern IV. King of Denmark, whofe Sifter Anne was King James's Royal Confort; which Franknefs, unusual with Crown'd Heads, the King acknowledg'd with all Sense of Gratitude: The Creation of a new Sort of Knights, called Baronets, next to a Baron, and made Hereditary: The Fall of the Lord Bacon, a Man of wonderful Parts, who from the great Station of Lord High Chancellor was reduced to a Degree of Poverty, little short of Beggary: And that of Sir Walter Raleigh, a great Man in the late Reign; who by the Prevalency of Gundamore the Spanish Ambaffador, then in great Favour at Court, loft his Head upon a Scaffold. The King's Iffue by Queen Anne, was Henry, his eldeft Son, the Peoples Darling, who died in his Father's Life-time, very much lamented; Charles his next Succeffor; Elizabeth, married to the unfortunate Frederick, Elector-Palatine of the Rhine, Mary and Sophia, who died young. Frederick being chofen King of Bohemia, and crown'd with his Wife at Prague, had a Competitor, Ferdinand the Emperor. King James, lefs concern'd than he ought to have been for his Daughter, could not be prevail'd upon to engage in the Quarrel; and for want of his Help, not only Bohemia, but the Electorate was loft to the Emperor. Thus his Daughter's Family was ruin'd, and a Proteftant Kingdom added to the Popish Party, by the unaccountable Neglect of King James; which might have been prevented by natural Affection, and a proportionable Zeal for the Proteftant Reli gion. The Truth is, King James was too much a Scholar, and too little a Soldier; and his Motto, Beati Pacifici, was the most of any fuitable to his Temper; for he talked much of Religion, but never cared to draw Sword in its Quarrel. Tho' he was born and bred in Presbytery, according to the Reformation of the Kirk of Scotland, yet he took fo great a Fancy to the Epifcopal Government of the Church, as a great Support to the Crown, that he often used this Saying, No Bibop, no King. The Office of Mafter of the Ceremonies, for the Reception and Entertainment of foreign Princes and Ambassadors, was first Establish'd by this King: Who having Reigned 23 Years, died at Theobalds, his Royal Palace in Hertfordshire, aged Fifty-nine Years, and was buried in Henry VII's Chapel. Thus ended a peaceable, but inglorious; a plentiful, but luxurious Reigns to make way for one both turbulent, and tragical.

II. CHARLES I. the only furviving Son of King James, fucceeded next. He was born at Dumferling in Scotland, Nov. 10. 1600. and Crown'd at Westminster, Feb. 2. 1625. But his Crown proved a Crown of Thorns, and his Reign ended in Blood. He had a bigotted Queen, Henrietta, Daughter to King Henry IV. of France, who pufh'd on very hard to bring in Popery and Arbitrary Power; and he had a Ministry ready moulded for it. His wonderful Uxoriousness made him comply with the Queen in many Things that were not agreeable to the Laws of

the

the Kingdom; and he would fooner give Ear to his Ministers,
than follow the Advice of his Parliament. His unbounded Fa-
vour to the Duke of Buckingham, a Man obnoxious to the State,
increased the Difguft of the People. After the fruitless Attempts of
three feveral Parliaments against the Life of that Duke, the King
chofe rather to part with them, than with fo great a Favourite,
who was afterwards affaffinated by Felton. In short, the Nation
was, for the Space of Twelve Years without a Parliament; and
the King ventur'd, against Law, to raife Ship-Money by his
own Authority, which put the whole Nation into a Ferment.
The cruel Maffacre in Ireland of 200000 English, which the King
was falfly charged with, by his Enemies, was a great Aggrava-
tion. The Scots, on their fide, enter'd into a Covenant against
Epifcopacy, which he forced upon them. This drew on a Re-
monftrance from the Diffenters in England, and which occa-
fioned the Long Parliament, convened by the King, for the Re-
dreifing of Grievances. The Houses proceeded in that Affair
in a regular and parliamentary Way, 'till fome ill Men blowing
the Coals, Things grew to that exceffive Heat, which fet the
Nation in a Flame. The King was obliged to part with his
two grand Minifters, Archbishop Laud, and the Earl of Straf-
ford, Men without Moderation, who loft their Heads upon a
Scaffold. At laft the Sword was drawn, feveral Battles fought;
but the King fell at last into the Hands of the worst of Enemies;
who, to take away his Life by Methods of pretended Justice,
erected a Judicial Court, by which he was fentenc'd to Death,
as the Occafion, Author, and Contriver of the late inteftine
War; and the Sentence was executed upon him before Whitehall
Gate, Jan. 30. 1648. by fevering his Head from his Body;
which was done in the Name of the whole People of England;
when the better Part look'd upon it with Horror and Indigna-

For, fuppofing the King had unhing'd the Government,
the most they could do with fome fhadow of Reafon or Juftice,
was, to declare the Government diffolv'd, and in a State of Anar-
chy. In which State all are Equal, and none can pretend to have a
legal Power over another; therefore they could pretend none over
the King. And, to refettle the Government, the whole People of
England thould have had a Hand in it; whereas it was done by a
Cabal, and an Army which aw'd the Nation. The King was pri-
vately bury'd in Windfor Chapel, leaving three Sons, and three
Daughters, viz. Charles his next Succeffor, James Duke of York,
and Henry Duke of Gloucefler. The Daughters, Mary, who mar-
ried William Prince of Orange (Father to King William III.)
Elizabeth, who died a Prifoner in the Isle of Wight, foon after
her Father's Death; and Henrietta, married to the late Duke of
Orleans, only Brother to Lewis XIVth of France.

III. CHARLES II. eldest Son of Charles I. fucceeded his Fa- 1648. ther, but was kept from the Crown the Space cf Twelve Years, before the Reftoration. During which Time England was reduced

to

to a Commonwealth, but moulded into various Shapes, 'till at last Oliver Cromwel affuming the Government, under the Title of Lord PROTECTOR, kept England in Awe, curbed Scotland, reduced Ireland, beat the Hollanders, got Dunkirk and Jamaica from Spain, and became a Terror to Europe in general. King Charles yielding to fome Conditions impos'd upon him by the Kirk of Scotland, was receiv'd by the Scots; and being Crown'd at Scoon, they fent an Army with him into England, to poffefs himself of it: But being entirely defeated at Worcester, and the King hardly efcaping, he was fain to wander about in a Difguife, for the Space of fix Weeks, 'till at last he made his Escape into France. From whence he was forced to fly into the Spanish Dominions, upon a League concluded by Cromwel with France against Spain. Several Attempts were made in the mean while, by the Loyal Party, but none that could take Effect: Nor was there any Hopes of a Reftoration 'till Cromwel's Death, which happen'd on the 3d of September, 1658. and gave Life to the Loyal Party, tho' he left two Sons, Richard, who fucceeded him in the Protectorship, and Henry in the Government of Ireland. But Richard was foon turn'd out by the Army, as being lukewarm in the Cause: and the RumpParliament reftor'd, under the Name of the Junto, confifting only of fuch Members as were entirely devoted to the Cause, the reit having been fecluded. This funto was foon after diffolv'd, to make Way for a new Model of Government, call'd the Committee of Safety,and confifting of 23 Members. During these Transactions, General Monk, who had an Army in Scotland to keep it in Awe, quitted that Kingdom, and with his Forces came up to London, where a new Scene was open'd in Favour of the exil'd King. He presently forc'd open the Gates of the City, and took Poffeflion of it. This done, he caufed the Junto to meet again, and made Way for the fecluded Members to fit with them. In short, they came to this Refolve, that a free Parliament should be called, to fit the 20th of April, 1660. and having appointed a Council of State to govern till the Sitting of the Parliament, they broke up. The Parliament being met at the Day appointed, voted the Return of King Charles, as lawful Heir to the Crown. And he was accordingly proclaim'd at London, May. 8. where he made a moft magnificent Entrance the 29th, being his Birth-Day; and on the 23d of April following (St. George's Day) was crown'd at Wftminster, with greater State and Solemnity, than any King before or after him. So univerfal was the Joy of his Subjects upon the Refaration of the Crown to the lawful Heir. Thus the Laws of England were revived, the Church re-establish'd, and all Things reftor'd to their proper Channel. The next Year the King married Catharine, Infanta of Portugal, whofe Bariennefs made England very uneafy. The Queen Mother came over from France, but returned thither, and died few Years after. Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester (a hopeful Prince, and the People's Darling) died foon after the Refloration. But the Duke of York, his Brother,

had