you have unjustly put to death, and thereby deprived me of the best of husbands, who could not survive that bloody catastrophe of his innocent mistress. His memory is hardly more dear to me than that of my injured queen; and regardless of consequences, I determined to revenge their death upon you. Many, but fruitless, were the attempts made to divert me from my purpose. I found myself constrained to prove by experience the truth of the maxim, that neither reason nor force can hinder a woman from vengeance, when she is impelled to it by love."

"You

Highly as the queen had cause to resent this speech, she heard it with coolness and moderation. are persuaded, then," said her majesty, "that in this step you have done nothing but what your duty required. What think you is my duty to you?" "Is that question put in the character of a queen, or that of a judge?" inquired Margaret, with the same intrepid firmness. Elizabeth professed to her it was in that of a queen. "Then," continued Lambrun, "it is your majesty's duty to grant me a pardon." what security," demanded the queen, "can you give me, that you will not make the like attempt upon some future occasion ?" "A favour ceases to be one, madam," replied Margaret," when it is yielded under such restraints; in doing so, your majesty would act against me as a judge.'

"But

Elizabeth, turning to her courtiers, exclaimed, "I have been a queen thirty years; I never had such a lecture read to me before." She then immediately granted an unconditional pardon to Margaret Lambrun, though in opposition to the advice of her council.

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SIR NICHOLAS THROCKMORTON.

One of the earliest and most pleasing triumphs of the trial by jury in this country, was displayed in the case of Sir Nicholas Throckmorton, accused of high treason in 1554. He was indicted for being concerned in Wyatt's rebellion, and was brought to trial before Lord Chief Justice Bromley, and a special commission of privy counsellors, judges, and crown lawyers. He had been in close confinement for fifty-eight days, without any of his friends being allowed access to him, or any assistance of counsel, which was never then permitted. Sir Nicholas was no lawyer by profession; yet under all these disadvantages he made a defence not only distinguished for its plain good sense and strong reasoning, but incomparably more learned as a legal argument, than any thing that was urged against him by the united knowledge of the bench and bar. In every question of law that occurred, he baffled the whole host of lawyers opposed to him; and the judges got at last so irritated, that they made an attempt to put him to silence, by refusing to order certain statutes which he called for to be read. To their astonishment, however, he repeated them with perfect accuracy, after complaining indignantly, that instead of law, they gave him "only the form and image of law." When he had finished, the chief justice exclaimed with surprise," why do not you of the queen's learned counsel answer him? Methinks, Throckmorton, you need not have the statutes, for you have them perfectly." When the judges quoted cases against him, he retorted others in which these had been condemned as erroneous; till Sergeant Stanford, on the part of the

crown, peevishly remarked, that if he had known the prisoner was so well furnished with cases, he would have come better prepared. Throckmorton coolly replied, that he had no law, but what he had learned from Mr. Sergeant Stanford himself, when attending in parliament. At length Griffin, the attorney-general, fairly lost all patience at the dexterity and acuteness displayed by the prisoner, and called out, "I pray you, my lords, that be the queen's commissioners, suffer not the prisoner to use the queen's counsel thus; I was never interrupted thus in my life, nor I never knew any thus suffered to talk as this prisoner is suffered; some of us will come no more at the bar, an we be thus handled."

The jury acquitted the prisoner; for which (such was the degree of freedom then in England) they were immediately imprisoned; and those who did not make due acknowledgment of their fault in deciding according to their consciences, were afterwards heavily fined by the star chamber, even to the ruin of some A of them, particularly the foreman and another, who lay in jail eight months.

LONG SPEECHES.

His late majesty observed one day to a gentleman of high literary character, and of distinguished political reputation, that oratory in this country was carried to a height far beyond its real use; and that the desire of excelling in this accomplishment, made many young men of genius neglect the more solid branches of knowledge. "I am sure," said his majesty, "that the rage for public speaking, and the

extravagant length to which some of our most popular orators carry their harangues in parliament, is very detrimental to the national business, and I wish that in the end it may not prove injurious to the public peace." It is remarkable, that the opinion of the king agrees exactly with that of Aristotle, who says, "Nothing so effectually contributes to the ruin of popular governments, as the petulance of their orators." (Polit. lib. v.)

EARL OF CARNARVON.

In the debate relative to the impeachment of the treasurer, the Earl of Danby, in the House of Lords, 1678, several noblemen spoke very warmly on both sides of the question, and among others the Earl of Carnarvon, a nobleman who had never opened his lips before in the house. Having been dining with the Duke of Buckingham, the duke (who intended no favour to the treasurer, but only ridicule) had got the earl to promise, before he went to the house, that he would speak upon any subject that should offer itself. Accordingly he rose in the debate, and spoke as follows: "My lords, I understand but little Latin, but a good deal of the English History, from which I have learnt the mischiefs of such kinds of prosecutions as these, and the ill fate of the prosecutors. I could bring many instances, and those very ancient; but, my lords, I shall go no farther back than the latter end of Queen Elizabeth's reign; at which time the Earl of Essex was run down by Sir Walter Ralegh. My Lord Bacon he ran down Sir Walter Ralegh, and your lordships know what became of Lord Bacon.

The Duke of Buckingham he ran down my Lord Bacon, and your lordships know what happened to the Duke of Buckingham. Sir Thomas Wentworth, afterwards Earl of Stafford, ran down the Duke of Buckingham, and you all know what became of him. Sir Harry Vane he ran down the Earl of Stafford, and your lordships know what became of Sir Harry Vane. Chancellor Hyde he ran down Sir Harry Vane, and your lordships know what became of the chancellor. Sir Thomas Osborne, now Earl of Danby, ran down Chancellor Hyde; but what will become of the Earl of Danby, your lordships best can tell. But let me see that man that dare run the Earl of Danby down, and we shall soon see what will become of him."

This speech being delivered with a remarkable humour and tone, the Duke of Buckingham, both surprised and disappointed, cried out, "The man is inspired, and claret has done the business." The majority, however, were against the commitment.

JEREMY TAYLOR, BISHOP OF DOWN. This eloquent prelate, from the fertility of his mind and the extent of his imagination, has been styled the Shakespeare of Divines. His sermons abound with some of the most brilliant passages, and embrace such a variety of matter, and such a mass of knowledge and of learning, that even the acute Bishop Warburton said of him, "I can fathom the understandings of most men, yet I am not certain that I can always fathom the understanding of Jeremy Taylor." His comparison between a married and a single life, in his