CHAPTER VII.

Queen Mary-Herman Boerhaave-Joseph AddisonAnn Baynard-Elizabeth Rowe-Doctor Watts.

SECTION I.

QUEEN MARY.

MARY, queen of Great Britain, and consort of King William the Third, was the daughter of James the Second, and was born in the year 1661. She appeared to be happily disposed from very early life, being good and gentle before she was capable of knowing that it was her duty to be so. This temper continued with her through the whole progress of her childhood. She might need instruction, but she wanted no persuasion. And it is said, that she never once, in the whole course of her education, gave occasion for reproof. Besides a most amiable sweetness of temper, she possessed great understanding, and a mind cultivated with useful learning and knowledge.

She was married in the sixteenth year of her age, to the prince of Orange, and went to reside

in Holland, where she conducted herself with so much wisdom and goodness, as to gain universal esteem and affection. But that which was, beyond all comparison, her greatest ornament and possession, was a truly devout and religious temper which made her look with indifference on the honours and splendour with which she was surrounded; and seek for her highest enjoyment, in doing good, in peace of mind, and in the hope of a better life.

In proof of her uncommon merit, we shall here insert a short declaration concerning her, made by her husband, King William, whom she tenderly loved, and who best knew her excellence, and his own great loss in being deprived of her. To Doctor Tenison, who endeavoured to comfort him after her death, he observed: "I cannot but grieve, since I have lost a wife, who in seventeen years, never was guilty of an indiscretion. During the whole course of our marriage, I never per ceived the least fault in her. She possessed a worth that nobody thoroughly knew but myself."

In the character of Lady Russel, we have seen the power and operation of religion on the mind, under some of the darkest clouds of affliction and distress in the present instance of Queen Mary, the virtue and preserving nature of the same vine principle, is evidenced amidst the magni

ficence of court, and the sunshine of worldly prosperity It is, indeed, a principle of universal agency; adapted to all ranks of men, and to allotment of Providence; a súre preservative when things are smiling around us, and a sovereign remedy for, or support under, all the calamities of life.

every

This good queen spent a great part of her time, in perusing the Holy Scriptures, and other religious books. By a letter to her father, written in early life, in support of the Protestant faith, she appears to have been thoroughly grounded and established in the principles of the Reformation. Bishop Burnet says, that "although he had a high opinion of the princess's good understanding, before he saw this letter, yet the letter surprised him, and gave him an astonishing joy, to see so young a person, all on a sudden, without consulting any one, able to write in so solid and learned a manner."

Her talents and abilities were very conspicuous in all her concerns, and particularly, in the important charge of government. Doctor Tillotson, archbishop of Canterbury, said, that "he was in great admiration at the proofs he knew the queen gave of her knowledge, in the weighty affairs of state, in the king's absence, when the executive part of the government was in her hands."

Her compassion and bounty to the poor and afflicted, and those who stood in need of her liberality, were very eminent, and such as corresponded with her exalted station, and the abun dant sources of relief to which she had access She took care to have a just account both of the worthiness, and the necessities, of those who were candidates for her liberality; and, in the conducting of her charity, showed as much exactness, attention and diligence, as if she had no cares of a higher nature. But what crowned all, was her exact conformity to the rule of the Gospel in her munificence: for none knew to whom, or what she gave, but those whom she was obliged to employ in the communication of her bounty.

The piety of this excellent person, was a noble support to her under the troubles of life: yet there were some distresses to which it gave a sharper edge. The impieties and blasphemies, the open contempt of religion, and the scorn of virtue, which she heard of from many persons, and from many different parts of the nation, gave her a secret horror; and presented her with so gloomy a prospect, as filled her mind with melan choly reflections. She was very sensibly touched, when she heard that some, who pretended to much zeal for the crown and the revolution, seemed thence to think they had a sort of right

to be indulged in their licentiousness, and irregularities. She often said, "Can a blessing be expected from such hands, or on any thing that must pass through them ?"

She had a just esteem for all persons whom she thought truly religious and virtuous; and no other considerations were much regarded by her, when these excellencies were not to be found. Next to open impiety, the want of life in those who pretended to religion, and the deadness and disunion of the Protestants in general, very much affected her; and she often said, with poignant regret : "Can such dry bones live?"

So far was she from entertaining a high opinion of herself, that she had a tender sense of any thing that looked like a miscarriage under her conduct; and was afraid lest some mistake of hers might have occasioned it. When difficulties grew too great to be surmounted, and she felt uneasy under them, she made God her refuge; and often said, that "she found herself tranquil, after she had poured forth her soul in prayer." When melancholy events came from the hand of Providence, she said, that "though there was no occasion for complaint or anger, upon these cross occurrences, yet there was just cause of grief, since God's hand was to be seen so particularly in them."