The vigour of Elizabeth's mind and the happiness of her life seemed to expire with her favoutite ; and, though she went through the business of the state by habit, she took little interest in any public measure or event. She sunk at last into a profound melancholy, which nothing could alleviate, and for which various reasons have been assigned. Some ascribe this depres sion of mind to remorse for having been persuaded to pardon the rebel Tyrone, or for some other actions of her life; others to a discovery which she had made of the correspondence maintained by her courtiers with her successor, the King of Scotland ; others to the ne glect which, on account of her old age and infirmities, she now imagined that she experienced ; others, to a mere decay of her faculties, in consequence of long and severe exertion of mind ; and others, with more proba bility, to a revival of her regret for the death of Essex, whom she had given up entirely in resentment for his invincible obstinacy, but who, she now discovered, had actually thrown himself upon her clemency, while his enemies had found means to conceal his application. From the moment of making this discovery, she resign ed herself to the deepest despondency, refused all sus tenance and consolation, rejected all advice from her physicians, and remained sullen and immoveable on the floor, venting her grief in sighs and groans. In this situation she continued fur ten days and nights, leaning upon cushions which her maids brought to her ; and, as her end was visibly approaching, the council sent the Secretary and Lord Admiral to know her will respect ing her successor. She faintly replied, that, as she had held a regal sceptre, she wished a king to succeed her, and that her heir, therefore, could be no other than her near kinsman the King of Scots. Being then exhorted by the Archbishop of Canterbury to fix her thoughts upon God, she answered, that her mind did not in the least wander from him. She soon after fell ibto a le thargic slumber, which continued for some hours, and then expired without any farther struggle, in the 70th year of her age, and the 45th of her reign.
The character of Queen Elizabeth varied consider ably with the circumstances in which she was placed. At the commencement of her reign, she was humble and moderate; and, ascending the throne in highly difficult circumstances, she conducted the government with unexampled felicity and success. But she after wards became more haughty and severe ; and fre quently exerted the powers of her prerogative in the most violent and oppressive manner. She possessed, indeed, the most singular talents for government ; and, in point of vigour, steadiness, penetration, vigilance, magnanimity, and address, may stand a comparison with any sovereign in any period of the world. In the choice of her favourites, she was often guided by un worthy and capricious motives ; but her able ministers and commanders, to whom she owed so much of the glory of her reign, if not always selected by her own discernment, were at least advanced and supported by the constancy of her friendship. Her economy was very remarkable, and enabled her, with a small reve nue and few supplies from her people, to execute the greatest undertakings ; but it was a virtue which she practised more from natural disposition, and a desire of being independent of parliamentary aid, than from any tender concern for her subjects. She was great, in
short, as a public character ; and all her stronger quali ties were preserved in due subordination by her own self-command. But, in private life, she was less to be admired; and had many infirmities, which all her ex cellent sense and strength of mind could not overcome, and which made her most disliked and feared by those who were placed nearest to her person. Deficient in sincerity and sympathy ; vain of her beauty, which she only could discover ; delighted with the praise of her charms, even at the age of sixty-five ; jealous of every female competitor, to a degree which the young est and silliest of her sex might despise ; and subject to sallies of anger, which no sense of dignity could restrain; her character adds one more to the many instances which occur in human life, and which arc calculated to subdue human pride, of the greatest moral weaknesses united with the highest intellectual superiority. But whatever was the merit of the sovereign, the progress of the English nation in arts,arms,commeree,agricultu•e, and literature, during the reign of Elizabeth, is unpa ralleled in history. The genius of the people, if not the wisdom of the government, surmounted every obstacle; and a kingdom, formerly unsettled and stor my like the element by which it is encompassed, suc cessively sinking under foreign invasion, or torn by do mestic disputes, became industrious, enterprising, po lite, powerful, secure at home, and formidable abroad. Its external commerce, by the exertions of its adventu rous navigators, was pushed to the most distant quar ters of the globe; and its internal manufactures, aided by the Flemish artists, who were driven from their own country by the oppressive measures of Spain, flourished beyond all precedent in every district of the country, in spite of the oppressive monopolies granted by the crown. By the progress of religious enquiries, and the perusal of the scriptures in the amended translation, the people were improved in taste as well as in morals ; and though the queen herself was more vain of shining by her own learning, than liberal in the encouragement of genius, many of the nobles and higher clergy, both by their patronage and example, contributed so essentially to the improvement of the English language, that many writers have been disposed to fix its Augustan age to that period. Liberty, indeed, still continued to depend upon the pleasure of the government ; but, though Eli zabeth often stretched her power to actual despotism, yet the people were less abjectly submissive than in for mer reigns; and even under her imperious sway, those noble principles of freedom, which have at length perva ded the British soil, began to spring up, and to find a shelter beneath the fostering protection of enlightened religious zeal.
Elizabeth was succeeded by James VI. of Scotland, and I. of England; and from the period of his acces sion, the history of both kingdoms is comprehended un der the article BRITAIN. (9)