loans from his subjects, he found means to raise those supplies which were necessary for the support of a regular army. He was successful against the Spaniards, who were forced to conclude with him the peace of Vervins, the only advantageous treaty that France had made since the reign of Philip Augustus.

From that time forward he devoted his whole attention to the improvement of his kingdom, and the advancement of the happiness of his subjects. He disbanded all his superfluous troops; he introduced order and economy into the administration of the finances; he reformed the laws, repressed every species of persecution, and brought about the most difficult of all coalitions-a perfect harmony and good understanding between the protestants and catholics. A spirit of commerce and manufactures, the certain proofs of a wise and equitable government, began to diffuse itself through all the provinces of the kingdom. The cities were enlarged and embellished; the capital decorated with magnificent buildings; and the fine arts encouraged by the munificent patronage of a prince whose taste was equal to his liberality.

Henry, whom the pope in the beginning of his ca reer had anathematized, as a heretic and usurper was now the darling son of the church, and the high est favourite of the see of Rome. Such was his credit with Pope Paul V., that the pontiff chose him as his mediator with the state of Venice, and at the request of one who had been formerly excommunicated himself, took off a sentence of excommunication which he had denounced against that republic.

His great political talents were equalled by his private virtues. He was the kindest master, the most affectionate parent and the warmest friend. His manners were noble without the smallest tincture of severity, and he possessed that engaging affability of Dehaviour, which in him, deriving its origin from a native goodness of heart, was very different from that affected complaisance, the usual courtly engine of ac

quirig popularity. There was a greatness of soul in this prince which manifested itself in the whole of his character. That generosity in the forgiveness of injuries, which is ever the attendant of a noble mind, was in him most remarkable. Many of those who, in the earlier period of his life had taken the most violent part against him, and who, according to the common rules of human conduct, had nothing to expect after he had attained the throne but punishment, or at least disgrace, were astonished to meet not only with entire forgiveness, but even with marks of favour and confidence. He knew how much even the best natures may be perverted by the spirit of faction. He could not harbour resentment against an humbled adversary, and his own good heart informed him, that an enemy forgiven might become the most valuable of friends. It was thus that he won to himself the affections of those nobles, the chief supporters of the League which so violently opposed his succession to the crown. Of all his enemies, the marshal Biron was the only one who suffered a capital punishment; and to him he had three times offered mercy, on the condition of his making a confession of his crimes.*

To form a proper judgment of this most estimable man, it is necessary to read the Memoirs of the duc de Sully, where we see the picture of the greatest and the most amiable of princes delineated by the hand of a faithful servant, a counsellor, and a companion; a friend who was no less acquainted with the public schemes and the motives of his political conduct than with all the circumstances of his private life.† "Should

*Perefixe relates a little anecdote, which shows that this Jeautiful feature of Henry's character, the forgiveness of injuries, extended itself to the meanest ranks of his subjects. Being one day in his coach with the marshal d'Estrées, he desired that nobleman to observe one of the life-guards whe walked at the coach-door. "That," said he, "is a brave fel low; it was he who wounded me at the battle of Aumale." + Who is there that can read without emotion the conversa

a faithful picture of this illustrious character," says Voltaire, "be drawn in the hearing of a judicious foreigner who had never before been acquainted with his name; and should the narrator conclude that this very man was at length assassinated in the midst of his people, after repeated attempts against his life by persons to whom he had never done the smallest injury, it would be impossible for him to believe it." Whether this atrocious deed arose from the designs of a party, or was the mere suggestion of a distempered brain in the wretch who perpetrated it, is to this day a matter of doubt and uncertainty. The parricide Ravaillac himself protested that he had no accomplices. On the 14th of May, 1610, as Henry, together with the duke d'Epernon, were on their way to the house of Sully, the prime minister, and while the coach was stopped by some embarrassment in the street, the king, suddenly turning toward one of the windows, was struck twice into the heart with a knife, and instantly expired. The affliction felt by his subjects on this great national calamity was such as no words can describe. There never, perhaps, existed a sovereign

tion that passed between this great man and his confidant Sully at Monceaux, when Henry, attacked with a dangerous illness thought himself dying. Mon amy, je n'apprehende nullement la mort, comme vous le sçavez mieux que personne, m'ayant vû en tant de périls dont je me fusse bien pu exempter; mais je ne nieray point que je n'aye regret de partir de cette vie sans eslever ce royaume en la splendeur que je m'estois proposée, et avoir tésmoigné a mes peuples, en les soulageant et deschargeant de tant de subsides, et les gouvernant amiablement, que je les aimois comme s'ils estoient mes enfans."-Sully, Economies Royales, tom. i. ch. 85.

"I have no fear of death, my friend, as you of all persons best know, having seen me exposed to so many perils, which I could have avoided; but I will not deny that I regret my departure out of life, without having elevated this kingdom to the state of splendour which I had proposed to myself; and showed to my people, by my endeavour to make them happy, to take off their burdens, and to rule them gently, that I loved them as my own children."

who more merited, or who more entirely possessed, the affections of his people. Henry had lived to the age of fifty-seven, and at the time of his death is said to have been employed in projecting one of the greatest and most extraordinary schemes that ever entered into the head of man.*

CHAPTER XXVIII.

ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND IN THE REIGNS OF ELIZABETH AND MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS:-Personal Enmity of Elizabeth and Mary--Reformation in Scotland-Regency of Mary of Guise--John Knox-Intervention of England-Confession of Faith ratified by Parliament-Mary arrives in Scotland -Artful measures of Elizabeth in Scotland-Murder of Rizzio-of Darnley-Forced Abdication of Mary--James VI. proclaimed-Battle of Langsyde-Mary imprisoned in England-Executed, 1587-Ambitious schemes of the Earl of Essex-Death and character of Elizabeth.

WHILE France was torn by intestine convulsions, and bleeding under the infernal ravages of a merciless zeal, signalized by the memorable massacre of St Bartholomew; while the inhabitants of the Nether lands had shaken off the yoke of Spain, and were bravely vindicating their rights and their religion,— the English nation had attained to a high degree of splendour under the government of a great and politic

*The project of a perpetual peace. The delineation of this great scheme, which was singularly characteristic of the genius as well as the benevolence of its author, is to be found in the Memoirs of the duke of Sully. Though the preparations were actually begun for carrying it into effect, it must in all probability have failed of success, because it took not into acCount the predominant passions and weaknesses of mankind; and the impossibility of reasoning with nations as with wise individuals.

princess. Elizabeth had been educated in the school of adversity: she was a prisoner during the reign of her sister Mary, and had turned that misfortune to the best advantage, by improving her mind in every great and useful accomplishment. It were to be wished she had cultivated likewise the virtues of the heart, and that her policy (which must be allowed to be extremely refined) had breathed somewhat more of the spirit of generosity and humanity.

Elizabeth had, from the beginning of her reign re solved to establish the protestant religion in her dominions, a measure which the severities of the reign of Mary had rendered not at all difficult. The protestant party had been increasing under persecution; and no sooner were the queen's inclinations signified to the people, than almost the whole nation became protestants from choice. The very first parliament after her accession passed an act in favour of the reformed religion.

Elizabeth's great object was to secure the affections of her people, and this she most thoroughly accomplished. She may be reckoned among the most respected of the English monarchs; though there is no question that she stretched the powers of the crown to a greater height, and her government was more arbitrary and despotic than that of any of her successors, whose encroachments on the rights of the subject gave occasion to such dreadful disquiets, and raised a combustion so fatal to the English nation.

The chief minister of Elizabeth in the beginning of her reign was Robert Dudley, son of the duke of Northumberland; a man whom she seemed to regard from capricious motives, as he was possessed neither of abilities nor virtue. But she was assisted likewise with the counsels of Bacon and of Cecil, men of great capacity and infinite application. They regulated the finances, and directed those political measures with foreign courts that were afterward followed with so much success.