The History of England - Vols. 1 to 6 (256 page)

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reputation, she was entirely indifferent what befell her; and though this sentiment is greatly censured by the zealous reformers,
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as being founded wholly on secular motives, it discovers a mind well calculated for the government of kingdoms.

D’Oisel, a Frenchman, celebrated for capacity, had attended her as ambassador from Henry, but in reality to assist her with his counsels in so delicate an undertaking as the administration of Scotland; and this man had formed a scheme for laying a general tax on the kingdom, in order to support a standing military force, which might at once repel the inroads of foreign enemies, and check the turbulence of the Scottish nobles.

But though some of the courtiers were gained over to this project, it gave great and general discontent to the nation; and the queen-regent, after ingenuously confessing, that it would prove pernicious to the kingdom, had the prudence to desist from it, and to trust entirely for her security to the good-will and affections of her subjects.
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This laudable purpose seemed to be the chief object of her administration; yet was she sometimes drawn from it by her connexions with France, and by the influence which her brothers had acquired over her. When Mary commenced hostilities against that kingdom, Henry required the queen-regent to take part in the quarrel; and she summoned a convention of states at Newbottle, and requested them to concur in a declaration of war against England. The Scottish nobles, who were become as jealous of French, as the English were of Spanish influence, refused their assent; and the queen was obliged to have recourse to stratagem, in order to effect her purpose. She ordered d’Oisel to begin some fortifications at Eyemouth, a place which had been dismantled by the last treaty with Edward; and when the garrison of Berwick, as she foresaw, made an inroad to prevent the undertaking, she effectually employed this pretence to inflame the Scottish nation, and to engage them in hostilities against

England.g
The enterprizes, however, of the Scots proceeded no farther than some inroads on the Marriage of the

borders: When d’Oisel, of himself, conducted artillery and troops dauphin and the to besiege the castle of Werke, he was recalled, and sharply queen of Scots.

rebuked by the council.
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In order to connect Scotland more closely with France, and to encrease the influence of the latter kingdom, it was thought proper by Henry to celebrate the marriage between the young queen and the dauphin; and a deputation was sent by the Scottish parliament, to assist at the ceremony, and to settle the terms of the contract.

The close alliance between France and Scotland threatened very nearly the repose and security of Mary; and it was foreseen, that, though the factions and disorders, which might naturally be expected in the Scottish government during the absence of the sovereign, would make its power less formidable, that kingdom would at least afford to the French a means of invading England. The queen, therefore, found it necessary to summon a parliament, and to demand of 20th Jan.

them some supplies to her exhausted exchequer. And such an emergency usually gives great advantage to the people,

and as the parliaments, during this reign, had shewn, that, where A parliament.

the liberty and independency of the kingdom was menaced with imminent danger, they were not entirely overawed by the court; we shall naturally expect, that the late arbitrary methods of extorting money should, at least, be PLL v6.0 (generated September, 2011)

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censured, and, perhaps, some remedy be for the future provided against them. The commons however, without making any reflections on the past, voted, besides a fifteenth, a subsidy of four shillings in the pound on land, and two shillings and eight pence on goods. The clergy granted eight shillings in the pound, payable, as was also the subsidy of the laity, in four years by equal portions.

The parliament also passed an act, confirming all the sales and grants of crown lands, which either were already made by the queen, or should be made during the seven ensuing years. It was easy to foresee, that, in Mary’s present disposition and situation, this power would be followed by a great alienation of the royal demesnes; and nothing could be more contrary to the principles of good government, than to establish a prince with very extensive authority, yet permit him to be reduced to beggary. This act met with opposition in the house of commons. One Copley expressed his fears lest the queen, under colour of the power there granted, might alter the succession, and alienate the crown from the lawful heir: But his words were thought
irreverent
to her majesty: He was committed to the custody of the serjeant at arms; and though he expressed sorrow for his offence, he was not released, till the queen was applied to for his pardon.

The English nation, during this whole reign, were under great apprehensions, with regard not only to the succession, but the life, of the lady Elizabeth. The violent hatred, which the queen bore to her, broke out on every occasion; and it required all the authority of Philip, as well as her own great prudence, to prevent the fatal effects of it. The princess retired into the country; and knowing that she was surrounded with spies, she passed her time wholly in reading and study, intermeddled in no business, and saw very little company. While she remained in this situation, which for the present was melancholy, but which prepared her mind for those great actions, by which her life was afterwards so much distinguished; proposals of marriage were made to her by the Swedish ambassador, in his master’s name. As her first question was, whether the queen had been informed of these proposals; the ambassador told her, that his master thought, as he was a gentleman, it was his duty first to make his addresses to herself; and having obtained her consent, he would next, as a king, apply to her sister. But the princess would allow him to proceed no farther; and the queen, after thanking her for this instance of duty, desired to know how she stood affected to the Swedish proposals. Elizabeth, though exposed to many present dangers and mortifications, had the magnanimity to reserve herself for better fortune; and she covered her refusal with professions of a passionate attachment to a single life, which,

she said, she infinitely preferred before any other.i
The princess showed like prudence in concealing her sentiments of religion, in complying with the present modes of worship, and in eluding all questions with regard to that delicate subject.
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The money granted by parliament, enabled the queen to fit out a fleet of a hundred and forty sail, which, being joined by thirty Flemish ships, and carrying six thousand land forces on board, was sent to make an attempt on the coast of Britanny. The fleet was commanded by lord Clinton: the land forces by the earls of Huntingdon and Rutland. But the equipment of the fleet and army was so dilatory, that the French got intelligence of the design, and were prepared to receive them. The English found Brest so well guarded as to render an attempt on that place impracticable; but landing PLL v6.0 (generated September, 2011)

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at Conquest, they plundered and burnt the town, with some adjacent villages, and were proceeding to commit greater disorders, when Kersimon, a Breton gentleman, at the head of some militia, fell upon them, put them to rout, and drove them to their ships with considerable loss. But a small squadron of ten English ships had an opportunity of amply revenging this disgrace upon the French. The mareschal de Thermes, governor of Calais, had made an irruption into Flanders, with an army of fourteen thousand men; and having forced a passage over the river Aa, had taken Dunkirk, and Berg St. Winoc, and had advanced as far as Newport, but count Egmont coming suddenly upon him, with superior forces, he was obliged to retreat; and being overtaken by the Spaniards near Gravelines, and finding a battle inevitable, he chose very skilfully his ground for the engagement. He fortified his left wing with all the precautions possible; and posted his right along the river Aa, which, he reasonably thought, gave him full security from that quarter. But the English ships, which were accidentally on the coast, being drawn by the noise of the firing, sailed up the river, and flanking the French, did such execution by their artillery, that they put them to flight; and the Spaniards gained a complete victory.
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Meanwhile the principal army of France, under the duke of Guise, and that of Spain, under the duke of Savoy, approached each other on the frontiers of Picardy; and as the two kings had come into their respective camps, attended by the flower of their nobility, men expected, that some great and important event would follow, from the emulation of these warlike nations. But Philip, though actuated by the ambition, possessed not the enterprizing genius of a conqueror; and he was willing, notwithstanding the superiority of his numbers, and the two great victories which he had gained at St. Quintin and Gravelines, to put a period to the war by treaty.

Negociations were entered into for that purpose; and as the terms offered by the two monarchs were somewhat wide of each other, the armies were put into winter-quarters, till the princes could come to better agreement. Among other conditions, Henry demanded the restitution of Navarre to its lawful owner; Philip that of Calais and its territory to England: But in the midst of these negociations, news arrived of the death of Mary; and Philip, no longer connected with England, began to relax in his firmness on that capital article. This was the only circumstance that could have made the death of that princess be regretted by the nation.

Mary had long been in a declining state of health; and having mistaken her dropsy for a pregnancy, she had made use of an improper regimen, and her malady daily augmented. Every reflection now tormented her. The consciousness of being hated by her subjects, the prospect of Elizabeth’s succession, apprehensions of the danger to which the catholic religion stood exposed, dejection for the loss of Calais, concern for the ill state of her affairs, and, above all, anxiety for the absence of her husband, who, she knew, intended soon to depart for Spain,

and to settle there during the remainder of his life: All these Death of the queen.

melancholy reflections preyed upon her mind, and threw her into 17th Nov.

a lingering fever, of which she died, after a short and unfortunate reign of five years, four months, and eleven days.

It is not necessary to employ many words in drawing the character of this princess.

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engaging as her behaviour and address. Obstinacy, bigotry, violence, cruelty, malignity, revenge, tyranny; every circumstance of her character took a tincture from her bad temper and narrow understanding. And amidst that complication of vices, which entered into her composition, we shall scarcely find any virtue but sincerity: a quality, which she seems to have maintained throughout her whole life; except in the beginning of her reign, when the necessity of her affairs obliged her to make some promises to the protestants, which she certainly never intended to perform. But in these cases a weak bigotted woman, under the government of priests, easily finds casuistry sufficient to justify to herself the violation of a promise. She appears also, as well as her father, to have been susceptible of some attachments of friendship; and that without the caprice and inconstancy which were so remarkable in the conduct of that monarch. To which we may add, that, in many circumstances of her life, she gave indications of resolution and vigour of mind; a quality, which seems to have been inherent in her family.

Cardinal Pole had long been sickly, from an intermitting fever; and he died the same day with the queen, about sixteen hours after her. The benign character of this prelate, the modesty and humanity of his deportment, made him be universally beloved; insomuch that, in a nation, where the most furious persecution was carried on, and where the most violent religious factions prevailed, entire justice, even by most of the reformers, has been done to his merit. The haughty pontiff, Paul IV. had entertained some prejudices against him: And when England declared war against Henry, the ally of that pope, he seized the opportunity of revenge; and revoking Pole’s legantine commission, appointed in his room cardinal Peyto, an observantine friar and confessor to the queen. But Mary would never permit the new legate to act upon the commission; and Paul was afterwards obliged to restore cardinal Pole to his authority.

There occur few general remarks, besides what have already been made in the course of our narration, with regard to the general state of the kingdom during this reign. The naval power of England was then so inconsiderable, that, fourteen thousand pounds being ordered to be applied to the fleet, both for repairing and victualling it, it was computed that ten thousand pounds a-year would afterwards answer all necessary

charges.m
The arbitrary proceedings of the queen, above mentioned, joined to many monopolies granted by this princess, as well as by her father, checked the growth of commerce; and so much the more, as all other princes in Europe either were not permitted, or did not find it necessary, to proceed in so tyrannical a manner. Acts of parliament, both in the last reign and in the beginning of the present, had laid the same impositions on the merchants of the still-yard as on other aliens: Yet the queen, immediately after her marriage, complied with the solicitations of the emperor, and,

by her prerogative, suspended those laws.n
No body in that age pretended to question this exercise of prerogative. The historians are entirely silent with regard to it; and it is only by the collection of public papers that it is handed down to us.