The phrafe now was the time appears to be fomewhat deficient in dignity. The author might have expreffed himself thus: "She often hinted to Paulet and Drury, as well as to fome other courtiers, that an opportunity was now afforded for difcovering the fincerity of their concern for her fafety,

&c.

"But they were wife enough to feem not to understand her meaning."

A fentence that muft thus include an affirmative and a negative, can never poffefs much elegance.

"Even after the warrant was figned, fie commanded a letter to be written to Paulet, in lefs ambiguous terms: complaining of his remiffness in fparing fo long the life of her capital enemy, and begging him to remember at last what was incumbent on him as an affectionate fubject, and to deliver his fovereign from continual fear and danger, by fhortening the days of his prifoner. Paulet, though rigorous and harfh, and often brutal in the difcharge of what he thought his duty, as Mary's keeper, was nevertheless a man of honour and integrity."

This paffage does not require any particular animadverfion.

"He rejected the propofal with difdain; and lamenting that he fhould ever have been deemed capable of acting the part of an affaffin, he declared that the Queen might difpofe of his life at her pleasure, but he would never ftain his own honor, nor leave an everlasting mark of infamy on his pofterity, by lending his hand to perpetrate fo foul a

crime."

By lending his hand, is a phrafe which appears to me unfuitable to the dignity of hiftorical compofition; though my averfion to it may perhaps have originated from having heard it fo often drawled out in the recitation of the following lines:

For this foren on he had that fcant of grace,

And breeding baith, to tell me to my face

He hoped I was a witch and wadna ftand

To lend him in this cafe my helping hand. Ramsey. "On the receipt of this anfwer, Elizabeth became ex

tremely peevish; and calling him a dainty and precise fellow, who would promife much, but perform nothing, the propofed to employ one Wingfield, who had both courage and inclination to strike the blow."

The Queen's calling Paulet a dainty and precise fellow, has little connction with her propofing to have recourfe to the af fiftance of Wingfield. The author's meaning, therefore, ought to have been diffufed into two diftinct periods: "On the receipt of this anfwer, Elizabeth became extremely peevish, and called him a dainty and precise fellow, who would promife much and perform nothing. She next propofed to employ one Wigfield, who had both courage and inclination to trike the blow."

"But Davifon remonftrating againft this method as no lefs dangerous than difhonorable, the again declared her intention, that the fentence pronounced by the commiffioners fhould be executed according to law; and as he had already figned the warrant, fhe begged that no farther applica tion might be made to her on that head. By this the Privy Counsellors thought themselves fufficiently authorifed to proceed; and prompted, as they pretended, by zeal for the Queen's fafety, or inftigated, as is more probable, by the apprehenfion of the danger to which they would themfelves be expofed, if the life of the Queen of Scots were spared, they affembled in the council chamber, and by a letter under all their hands, empowered the Earls of Shrewsbury and Kent, together with the High Sheriff of the county, to fee the fentence put in execution."

By this the Privy Counsellors thought themselves sufficiently authorised to proceed. It is a practice too common among authors, to make fuch particles as this and which refer not to any particular antecedent word, but to the tenor of fome preceding phrafe, or perhaps to fome preceding fentence. This practice faves them trouble in marshalling their words, and airanging their periods; but though it may leave their meaning intelligible, yet it renders that meaning much lefs. perfpicuous, determined, and precife, than it might otherwife have been. The error which appears in the above paffage, may eafily be removed: The privy counsellors now thought themselves fufficiently authorifed to proceed."

This reading, without weakening the expreffion, is more correct.

In the fentence to which we have now referred, the repe tition of the word Queen might without much difficulty have been avoided.

On Tuesday the feventh of February, the two Earls arrived at Fotheringay, and demanding accefs to the Queen, read in her prefence the warrant for execution, and required her to prepare to die next morning."

y an i

We again meet with the word Queen in this period, though it occurs twice in the laft. Execution clofes the former fen tence; yet it is alfo found to occupy important place in this. Thefe, it must be confeffed, are errors of a very trivial kind: but if they are errors, an author fhould endeavour to avoid them. If however they cannot be removed without weakening the expreffion, they ought beyond all doubt to be retained.

"Mary heard them to the end without emotion; and eroffing herself in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghoft," That foul," said she," is not worthy of the joys of Heaven, which repines because the body must endure the ftroke of the executioner: and although 1 did not expect that the Queen of England would fet the frft example of violating the facred perfon of a Sovereign Prince, I willingly fubmit to that which providence has de creed to be my l -lot.

The author might have faid, in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; but the expreffion he has adopted, produces a much better effect.

"And laying her hand on a Bible, which happened to be near her, the folemnly protested that he was innocent of that Confpiracy which Babington liad carried on againft Elizabeth's life. She then mentioned, the requests contained in her letter to Elizabeth, but obtained no fatisfactory anfwer. She antreated with particular earnestnefs, that now in her laft moments, her Almoner might be fuffered to attend her, and that the might enjoy the confolation of thofe pious intitutions, prefcribed by her religion. Even this favour. which is ufually granted to the vileft criminal, was abfolutely denied.

2

น

The third of thefe fentences poffeffes more than common beauty.

"Her attendants, during this converfation, were bathed in tears, and though overawed by the prefence of the two Earls, with difficulty fuppreffed their anguifh; but no fooner did Kent and Shrewury withdraw, than they ran to their miftrefs, and burst out into the moft paffionate exprefTons of tenderness and forrow."

At the commencement of this period, the more natural order of the words ought perhaps to have been followed: "During this converfation, her attendants were bathed in tears.” This feems in every refpect preferable to the other mode of

arrangement.

が

"Mary, however, not only retained perfect compofure of mind, but endeavoured to moderate their exceffive grief. And falling on her knees, with all her domeftics round her, the thanked heaven that her fufferings were now fo near an end; and prayed that he might be enabled to endure what ftill remained with decency and with fortitude. The greater part of the evening the employed in fettling her worldly affairs. She wrote her teftament with her own hand. Her money, her jewels, and her cloaths, fhe distributed among her fervants according to their rank or merit. She wrote a fhort letter to the king of France, and another to the Duke of Guife, fall of tender but magnanimous fentiments, and, recommended her foul to their prayers, and her afflicted fervants to their protection. At fupper fhe eat temperately as fual, and converfed not only with eafe but with cheerfulnefs; fhe drank to every one of her fervants, and afked their forgivenefs, if ever the had failed in any part of her duty towards them. At her wonted time he went to bed, and Sept calmly a few hours. Early in the morning fhe retired. to her clofet, and employed a confiderable time in devotion. At eight o'clock the High Sheriff and his officers entered her chamber, and found her ftill kneeling at the altar. She imme-. diately ftarted up and with a majeftic mean, and a countenance undifmayed and even cheerful, advanced towards the place of execution, leaning on two of Paulet's attendants. She was dreffed, in a mourning habit, but with an elegance nd fplendor, which he had long laid afide, except on a few feftival days. An Agnus Dei hung by a pomander chain at Ber neck; her beads at her girdle; and in her hand the cared a crucifix of ivory..

In this paffage it would perhaps be impoffible to improve a fingle fentence, either by fabftituting new words, or by altering the arrangement every thing is diftinct, accurate, and elegant.

"At the bottom of the stairs, the two Earls, attended by feveral gentlemen from the neighbouring counties, received. her; and there Sir Andrew Melvil, the master of her household, who had been fecluded, for fome weeks, from her prefence, was permitted to take his laft farewel. At the fight of a miftrefs whom he tenderly loved, in fuch a fituation, he melted into tears and as he was bewailing her condi tion, and complaining of his own hard fate in being appointed to carry the account of fuch a mournful event into Scot Jand, Mary replied, "Weep not, good Melvil; there is at prefent greater caufe for rejoicing. Thou halt this day Fee Mary Stuart delivered from all her cares, and fuch an. end put to her tedious fufferings as he has long expected. Bear witness that I die conftant in my religion; firm in my fidelity towards Scotland; and unchanged in my affection to France. Commend me to my fon, Tell him I have done nothing injurious to his kingdom, to his honor, or to his rights and God forgive all those who have thirsted, without caufe, for my blood."

་

4

At the sight of a mistress whom he tenderly loved in such a situation, he melted into tears. The author's meaning is,. "That he melted into tears on beholding his beloved mistress In fuch a fituation, but the manner in which he has expreffed himself is ambiguous.na stala

The beautiful paffage which we have been confidering in the courfe of this chapter is rendered more captivating by means of thofe dramatic touches with which it is interfper fed. It is not to be fuppofed that any of thefe fhort fpeeches was originally delivered in the identical words that are here adopted by the hiftorian. All that can reafonably be required is, that he exprefs the very fame fentiment. Alate writer, however, delivers a different opinion with regard to this fubject. "An excefs of polifh and refinement," fays Dr. Ferriar, " among other inconveniences, tempts the hiftorian to fupprefs or vary the ftrong original expreffions, which trying occafions extort for men of genius. Yet thefe, infinitely fuperior to phrafes which have cooled in the criti