and gave such due encouragement to a freedom of speech; she remembered every thing so exactly, observing at the same time the closest reservedness, yet with an open air and frankness *; she was so candid in all she said, and cautious in every promise she made; and, notwithstanding her own great capacity, she expressed such a distrust of her own thoughts, and was so entirely resigned to the king's judgment, and so constantly determined by it, that when I laid all these things together, which I had large opportunities to observe, it gave a very pleasant prospect, to balance the melancholy view, that rose from the ill posture of our affairs, in all other respects. It gave us a very particular joy, when we saw, that the person, whose condition seemed to mark her out as the defender and perfecter of our reformation, was such in all respects in her public administration, as well as in her private deportment, that she seemed well fitted for accomplishing that work, for which we thought she was born; but we soon saw this hopeful view blasted, and our expectations disappointed in the loss of her. When, in her last illness, the archbishop was preparing to apprize her of her danger, with some address, not to surprise her too much with such tidings, she presently apprehended his drift, but showed no fear nor disorder upon it. She said, she thanked God she had always carried this in I pensieri stretti et il visi sciolto.' See Sir H. Wotton's Letter to Milton, printed before the Mask.' Lord Onslow. her mind, that nothing was to be left to the last hour; she had nothing then to do, but to look up to God, and submit to his will*; it went further, indeed, than submission; for she seemed to desire death, rather than life; and she continued, to the last moment of her life, in that calm and resigned state. She had formerly wrote her mind, in many particulars, to the king: and she gave orders to look carefully for a small scrutoir that she made use of, and to deliver it to the king: and, having dispatched that, she avoided the giving him or herself the tenderness which a final parting might have raised in them both. She was almost perpetually in prayer: the day before she died, she received the sacrament, all the bishops who were attending being admitted to receive it with her: we were, God knows, a sorrowful company; for we were losing her who was our chief hope and glory on earth. She followed the whole office, repeating it after the archbishop: she apprehended, not without some concern, that she should not be able to swallow the bread, yet it went down easily. When this was over, she composed herself solemnly to die; she slumbered sometimes, but said she was not refreshed by it; and said often, that nothing did her good but prayer: she tried once or twice to have said somewhat to the king, but was not able to go through with it. She ordered the archbishop to be reading to her such passages of scrip * This much resembles the saying of Tillotson, so lately mentioned, see page 315. note. ture, as might fix her attention, and raise her devotion: several cordials were given, but all was ineffectual; she lay silent for some hours; and some words that came from her, showed her thoughts began to break: in conclusion, she died on the 28th of December, about one in the morning, in the thirty-third year of her age, and in the sixth of her reign. CHARACTER OF A CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER, IN A SERMON PREACHED JANUARY 7. 1691-2, AT THE FUNERAL OF THE HON. ROBERT BOYLE, BY GILBERT BURNET, D.D. Yet, some there be, that by due steps aspire, Δίκαιοι δὲ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα ζῶσι, Καὶ ἐν Κυρίῳ ὁ μισθὸς αὐτῶν, Καὶ ἡ φροντὶς αὐτῶν παρὰ Ὑψίστῳ: Διὰ τοῦτο λήψονται τὸ βασίλειον τῆς εὐπρεπείας, But the righteous live for evermore, Their reward also is with JEHOVAH, And the care of them is with the MoST HIGH: And the diadem of beauty, from the hand of JEHOVAH. Μακάριοι οἱ καθαροὶ τῇ καρδίᾳ, MILTON. ΣΟΦ. ΣΑΛ. Wisd. v. 15, 16. ΜΑΘ. ν. S. Mat. v. 8. |