It was the peculiar misfortune of this Woman to have bad
Ministers—Since wicked as she herself was, she could not have committed
such extensive mischeif, had not these vile and abandoned Men connived
at, and encouraged her in her Crimes. I know that it has by many people
been asserted and beleived that Lord Burleigh, Sir Francis Walsingham,
and the rest of those who filled the cheif offices of State were
deserving, experienced, and able Ministers. But oh! how blinded such
writers and such Readers must be to true Merit, to Merit despised,
neglected and defamed, if they can persist in such opinions when they
reflect that these men, these boasted men were such scandals to their
Country and their sex as to allow and assist their Queen in confining
for the space of nineteen years, a _Woman_ who if the claims of
Relationship and Merit were of no avail, yet as a Queen and as one who
condescended to place confidence in her, had every reason to expect
assistance and protection; and at length in allowing Elizabeth to bring
this amiable Woman to an untimely, unmerited, and scandalous Death. Can
any one if he reflects but for a moment on this blot, this everlasting
blot upon their understanding and their Character, allow any praise to
Lord Burleigh or Sir Francis Walsingham? Oh! what must this bewitching
Princess whose only freind was then the Duke of Norfolk, and whose only
ones now Mr Whitaker, Mrs Lefroy, Mrs Knight and myself, who was
abandoned by her son, confined by her Cousin, abused, reproached and
vilified by all, what must not her most noble mind have suffered when
informed that Elizabeth had given orders for her Death! Yet she bore it
with a most unshaken fortitude, firm in her mind; constant in her
Religion; and prepared herself to meet the cruel fate to which she was
doomed, with a magnanimity that would alone proceed from conscious
Innocence. And yet could you Reader have beleived it possible that some
hardened and zealous Protestants have even abused her for that
steadfastness in the Catholic Religion which reflected on her so much
credit? But this is a striking proof of _their_ narrow souls and
prejudiced Judgements who accuse her. She was executed in the Great
Hall at Fortheringay Castle (sacred Place!) on Wednesday the 8th of
February 1586—to the everlasting Reproach of Elizabeth, her Ministers,
and of England in general. It may not be unnecessary before I entirely
conclude my account of this ill-fated Queen, to observe that she had
been accused of several crimes during the time of her reigning in
Scotland, of which I now most seriously do assure my Reader that she
was entirely innocent; having never been guilty of anything more than
Imprudencies into which she was betrayed by the openness of her Heart,
her Youth, and her Education. Having I trust by this assurance entirely
done away every Suspicion and every doubt which might have arisen in
the Reader’s mind, from what other Historians have written of her, I
shall proceed to mention the remaining Events that marked Elizabeth’s
reign. It was about this time that Sir Francis Drake the first English
Navigator who sailed round the World, lived, to be the ornament of his
Country and his profession. Yet great as he was, and justly celebrated
as a sailor, I cannot help foreseeing that he will be equalled in this
or the next Century by one who tho’ now but young, already promises to
answer all the ardent and sanguine expectations of his Relations and
Freinds, amongst whom I may class the amiable Lady to whom this work is
dedicated, and my no less amiable self.
Though of a different profession, and shining in a different sphere of
Life, yet equally conspicuous in the Character of an _Earl_, as Drake
was in that of a _Sailor_, was Robert Devereux Lord Essex. This
unfortunate young Man was not unlike in character to that equally
unfortunate one _Frederic Delamere_. The simile may be carried still
farther, and Elizabeth the torment of Essex may be compared to the
Emmeline of Delamere. It would be endless to recount the misfortunes of
this noble and gallant Earl. It is sufficient to say that he was
beheaded on the 25th of Feb, after having been Lord Lieutenant of
Ireland, after having clapped his hand on his sword, and after
performing many other services to his Country. Elizabeth did not long
survive his loss, and died so miserable that were it not an injury to
the memory of Mary I should pity her.