| my eternal interefts, with patience and courage to bear my eminent misfortunes, and ever hereafter be above the fmiles and frowns of it. And, when I have done the remnant of the work appointed me on earth, then joyfully wait for the heavenly perfection in God's good time, when by his infinite mercy I may be accounted worthy to enter into the fame place of reft and repofe, where he is gone for whom onfear. From that contemplation must come my best fupport. Good doctor, you will think, as you have reason, that I fet no bounds, when I let myself loose to my complaints. But I will release you, first fervently afking the continuance of your prayers for Your infinitely afflicted, Weborne-Abbey. But very faithful fervt. 30 Sept. 1683. R. RUSSELL." how welived, muft allow I have juft cause to bewail my lofs. I know it is common with others to lose a friend, but to have lived with fuch a one, it may be queftioned how few can glory in the like happiness, fo, confequently, lament the like lofs. Who can but fhrink at fuch a blow, till, by the mighty aids of his holy fpirit, we will let the gift of God, which he hath put into our hearts, interpofe? That reafon which fets a measure to our foulsly I grieve I do† in profperity, will then fuggeft many things which we have feen and heard, to moderate us in fuch fad circumftances as mine: but, alas! my underftanding is clouded, my faith weak, fenfe ftrong, and the devil bufy to fill my thoughts with falfe notions, difficulties, and doubts, as of a future condition * of prayer; but this I hope to make matter of humiliation, not fin. Lord, let me underftand the reafon of thefe dark and wounding providences, that I fink not under the difcouragements of my own thoughts. I know I have deferved my punishment, and will be filent under it; but yet fecretly my heart mourns, too fadly I fear, and cannot be comforted, because I have not the dear companion and sharer of all my joys and forrows. I want him to talk with, walk with, to eat and fleep with; all these things are irkfome to me now; the day unwelcome, and the night fo too; all company and meals I would avoid, if it might be yet all this is, that I enjoy not the world in my own way, and this fure hinders my comfort.When I fee my children before me, I remember the pleasure he took in them, this makes my heart fhrink. Can I "Applications were made to the regret his quitting a leffer good for a king for a pardon: even money, to bigger?-O if I did ftedfaftly believe, the amount of an hundred thousand I could not be dejected! for I will not pounds, was offered to the duchefs of injure myself to fay, I offer my mind Portsmouth by the old earl of Bedany inferior confolation to fupply this ford, father to Ruffel. The king was lofs. No, I moft willingly forfake inexorable. He had been extremely this world, this vexatious, trouble-harraffed with the violence of the fome world, in which I have no other country party, and he had obferved bufinefs but to rid my foul from fin; that the prifoner, befides his fecret fecure by faith and a good conscience defigns, had always been carried to Two or three words torn off. In a letter to king Charles, her ladyship expresses her forrow at a report that the paper delivered by lord Ruffel at his death to the fheriff, was not his own; declaring she can attest, in the moft folemn manner, that during his imprisonment, fhe had often heard him difcourfe of the matters contained in that paper, in the fame expreffions he therein ufed; and that others of the few relations who were admitted to see him can aver the fame fact. AFFECTING PARTICULARS relating to LORD RUSSELL, after his being capitally convicted. [Extracted from Mr. HUME'S HIS TORY OF ENGLAND.] † A word torn off. the Particulars relating to Lord Ruffet. 295 "Lord Cavendish had lived in the clofeft intimacy with Ruffel, and deferted not his friend in the prefent calamity. He gallantly offered to manage his escape, by changing cloaths with him, and remaining at all hazards in his place. Ruffel refufed to fave his own life by an expedient which might expofe his friend to fo many hardfhips. When the duke of Monmouth, by meffage, offered to furrender himself, if Ruffel thought that that measure would any way contribute to his fafety; " It will be no advantage to me," he faid, " to have my friends die with me." Some of his expreffions difcover not only compofure, but good humour, in this melancholy extremity. The day before his exe the highest extremity of oppofition in parliament. He had even adopted a fentiment fimilar to what we meet with in a letter of the younger Brutus.Had his father, he faid, advised the king to reject the exclufion bill, he would be the first to move for a parliamentary impeachment again!t him. When fuch determined refolution was obferved, his popularity, his humanity, his justice, his very virtues became fo many crimes, and were used as arguments against sparing him. Charles, therefore, would go no farther than remit the more ignominious part of the sentence, which the law requires to be pronounced againft traitors." My lord Ruffel," said he, " fhall find that I am poffeffed of that prerogative, which, in the case of lord Stafford, hecution he was feized with a bleeding thought fit to deny me." at the nofe-" I fhall not now let blood to divert this diftemper," faid he to doctor Burnet, who attended him, " that will be done to-morrow." A little before the fheriffs conducted him to the fcaffold, he wound up his watch: "Now I have done,” said he, with time, and henceforth must think folely of eternity." "As the fury of the country party had rendered it impoffible for the king, without the most imminent danger of his throne, to pardon fo many catholics, whom he firmly believed to be innocent, and even affectionate and loyal to him, he, probably, thought," that fince the edge of the law was now ready to fall upon that party themfelves, they could not reafonably expect that he fhould interpofe to fave him. The fcaffold was erected in Lincoln's-Inn Fields, a place very diftant from the Tower; and it was, probably, intended, by conducting Ruffel "Ruffel's confort, a woman of great through fo many streets, to fhew the merit, daughter and heiress of the good mutinous city their beloved leader, earl of Southampton, threw herfelf at once the object of all their confidence, the king's feet, and pleaded, with many now exposed to the utmost rigours of tears, the merits and loyalty of her fa- the law. As he was the most popular ther, as an atonement for those errors, among his own party, fo was he ever into which honeft, however mistaken the leaft obnoxious to the opposite principles, had feduced her husband. faction; and his unfortunate fate uThefe fupplications were the laft in-nited every heart, fenfible of humaniftance of female weakness (if they deferve the name) which the betrayed. Finding all applications vain, fhe collected courage, and not only fortified herself against the fatal blow, but endeavoured by her example to ftrengthen the refolution of her unfortunate lord. With a tender and decent composure they took leave of each other on the day of his execution. "The bitterness of death is now paffed," faid he, when he turned from her. ty, in a tender compaffion for him.— Without the leaft change of countenance he laid his head on the block, and at two itrokes it was fevered from his body. "In the fpeech which he delivered to the fheriffs, he was very anxious to clear his memory from any imputation of ever intending the king's death, or any alteration in the government: he could not explicitly confefs the projected infurrection without hurting his friends, friends, who might ftill be called in queftion for it; but he did not purge himself of that defign, which, in the prefent condition of the nation, he regarded as no crime. By many paffa ges in his fpeech, he feems to the laft to have lain under the influence of party zeal; a paffion, which being nourished by a focial temper, and cloathing itself under the appearance of principle, it is almoft impoffible for a virtuous man, who has acted in public life, ever thoroughly to eradicate. He profeffed his entire belief in the popish plot; and he said, that though he had often heard the feizure of the guards mentioned, he had ever difapproved of that attempt. To which he added, that the maffacring fo many innocent men in cold blood was fo like a popish practice, that he could not but abhor it. Upon the whole, the integrity and virtuous intentions, rather than the capacity of this unfortunate nobleman, feem to have been the fhining parts of his character." ly endeavoured to fupprefs. She shook the dying countefs in her bed, crying out, "That God might pardon her, but he never would."- -She then broke from her, and refigned herself to the dictates of her fixed defpair.She refused food and fuftenance; fhe continued filent and gloomy; fighs and groans were the only vent the gave to her defpondence; and the lay for ten days and nights upon the carpet, leaning on cushions, which her maids brought her. Perhaps the faculties of her mind were impaired by long and violent exercise; perhaps she reflected with remorfe on fome paft actions of her life, or perceived but too ftrongly the decays of nature, and the approach of her diffolution. She faw her courtiers remitting their affiduity to her, in order to pay their court to James, the apparent fucceffor. Such a concurrence of causes was more than fufficient to deftroy the remains of her conftitution; and her end was now vifibly feen to approach.Feeling a perpetual heat in her ftomach, attended with unquenchable thirst, fhe drank without ceafing, but Conclufion of the REIGN of QUEEN refufed the affiftance of her phyficians. ELIZABETH. [Extracted from the late Dr. GOLDSMITH'S HISTORY of ENGLAND.] THE Her diftemper gaining ground, Cecil, and the lord admiral, defired to know her fentiments with regard to the fucceffion. To this the replied, that as HE remaining events of this the crown of England had always been reign are not confiderable e- held by kings, it ought not to devolve nough to come into a picture already upon any inferior character, but upon crouded with great ones. With the her immediate heir the king of Scotdeath of her favourite Effex, all Eli-land.--Being then advifed by the zabeth's pleasures feemed to expire: fhe, afterwards, went through the bu. finefs of the ftate merely from habit, but her fatisfactions were no more.→ She had fallen into a profound melancholy, which all the advantages of her high fortune, all the glories of her profperous reign, were unable to remove. She had now found out the falfhood of the countess of Notting-racter differed with her circumstances; ham, who, on her death-bed, fent for the queen, and informed her of the fatal circumftance of the ring, which fhe had neglected to deliver. This information only ferved to awaken all that paffion which the queen had vain archbishop of Canterbury to fix her thoughts upon God, the replied, that her thoughts did not in the leaft wander from him. Her voice foon after left her; fhe fell into a lethargic flumber, which continued fome hours, and the expired without a groan in the feventieth year of her age, and the forty-fifth year of her reign. Her cha in the beginning fhe was moderate and humble; towards the end of her reign haughty and fevere: but ever prudent, active, and difcerning, the procured for her fubjects that happiness which was not entirely felt by those about The Inconfiftent Father. her. She was indebted to her good fortune that her minifters were excellent; but it was owing to her indif cretion that the favourites who were more immediately chofen by herfelf, were unworthy. Though the was poffeffed of excellent fenfe, yet the n~ver had the difcernment to difcover that she wanted beauty; and to flatter her charms at the age of fixty-five, was the furelt road to her favour and esteem. 297 learning at that time, that fome fix The INCONSISTENT FATHER;" T HOSE who think Fielding's "But whatever were her perfonal defects as a queen, fhe is to be ever remembered by the English with gratitude. It is true, indeed, that she carried her prerogative in parliament to its highest pitch, fo that it was tacitly allowed in that affembly that the was above all laws, and could make or unmake them at pleasure; yet ftill the was fo wife and good, as feldom to exert that power which the claimed, and to enforce few acts of her prerogative which were not for the benefit of the people. It is true, in like manner, that the English, during her reign, were put in poffeffion of no new or fplendid acquifitions, but commerce was daily growing up among them, and the people began to find that the theatre of their trueft conquefts was) to be on the bofom of the ocean. A nation which hitherto had been the object of every invasion, and a prey to every plunderer, now afferted its ftrength in turn, and became terrible to its invaders. The fuccefsful voyages of the Spaniards and Portuguefe began to excite their emulation, and they fitted out feveral expeditions for difcovering a shorter paffage to the EaftIndies. The famous Sir Walter Raleigh, without any affiftance from go-pliance with them. vernment, colonized New England," mon thing to fee a father difcover, at while internal commerce was making once a tender and a tyrannical difpoequal improvements; and many Fle-fition; to fee him this moment melted mings, perfecuted in their native coun- by the moft affectionate feelings, and try, found, together with their arts the next under the dominion of an unand indoftry, an eafy afylum in Eng-ruly paffion which extinguishes, dur1ind. Thus the whole island feemed as if rouzed from her long habits of barbarity; arts, commerce, and legiflation began to affume new ftrength every day; and fuch was the ftate of VOL. X. Squire Western an unnatural character, have not feen a great deal of the world; or have not, at least, made deep obfervations on the manners of men. There are many, too many fathers who, while they pretend to be extravagantly fond of their children, render them extremely wretched by oppofing their inclinations when they are very well affured that the happiness of their lives depends upon their com It is no uncom ing its rage, all parental fenfations.When the difpofal of a fon or daughter in marriage is the principal object of fuch a father's attention, the confequences produced by his inconfiftenQ ૧ cy, and defpotifm are fometimes the more difcrete in the delivery of her most tragical to be imagined. maternal encomiums. Mr. Webfter had a confiderable eftate in Somersetshire,, and was in feveral refpects a Western, tho' he was of too literaty a turn to be denominated a complete country fquire. Field-fports had no charms for him: he could not bear the thoughts of fox-hunting, nor did courfing afford him any amufement; fhooting was his averfion.- In fhort Mr. Webster made no figure among his neighbours addicted to the covey or the chace. He had dogs and guns, but he kept them only to defend his houfe; he had horses too, but he only made ufe of them to convey his body from one place to another. Mr Webster loved a retired life, and fpent much of his time in his library. His favourite authors were philofophers; but he did not always fquare his conduct by the golden rules of which he highly approved, because thoroughly convinced of their utility, while he read them. He had a strong underftanding, he had alfo ftrong paffions: by the former he was fufficiently enabled, when it had fair play, to think right; but the latter very frequently hurried him to act wrong. He was naturally humane and benevolent, but he was frequently driven by his impetuous paffions to behave in the most ́unjustifiable manner. Mrs. Webiter's understanding was little inferior to her husband's; in point of confiftency fhe was greatly his fuperior. She was of a very amiable difpofition, and the uniformity of her behaviour arifing, in a great meafure, from the happy evennets of her temper, made her fociety particularly pleafing to all who were acquainted with her. Till fhe was eighteen Alicia had the greatest reafon to be fatisfied with both her parents, as they ftudied to make her life, in all refpects, a life of happiness. With joy the faw their kind, their earnest endeavours, to promote her felicity with gratitude the acknowledged her indelible obligations. to them. Her acknowledgments were doubly welcome to their attentive ears, as they faw plainly that her filial love affented to every fyllable which her filial duty prompted her to utter. : Soon after her eighteenth birth day, Alicia, at a monthly affembly to which the principal families in the county subscribed, danced with a gentleman who occafioned a no fmall diminution of the happiness she had enjoyed before that evening, by filling her with very ftrong prepoffeffions in his favour. She went home with emotions which the had never felt till then, and the more fhe reflected upon the numerous agreemens of her new partner, the more did the feel herself unable to drive him from her mind. Love at first fight, has often beca laughed at by thofe who are not much troubled with fenfibility; but nobody, I imagine, who is intimately acquainted with the female heart will wonder at its being powerfully affected by initantaneous impreffions of any, efpecially of a tender kind. Alicia, however, was not, abfolutely, at first sight, in love with Mr. Sidcup. He appeared, indeed, to great advantage in her eyes as foon as the beheld him, being exceedingly genteel, and drefied in the most elegant style: he did not become a captivating object till she had been for fome time engaged in converfation with him. Alicia, with her perfon, her underftanding, ber qualifications, her tem- Sidcup returned with his uncle, who per, and her whole deportment was was a man of great importance in the generally admired and applauded. She county, with his head and heart full was exceedingly beloved by both her of Mifs Webfter, and wished to be in a fituation to make honourable overparents. Her father perpetually expreffed his fondness for her in the high-tures to her. His flation in life, and eit, in the most flattering terms: her circumftances, prevented him from mother, tho' fhe doated on her, was thinking that his addreffes to her would be |