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tish sailors, our little fleet came out of Plymouth barbour, and harassed them and drove them in all directions, so that very few of them ever returned home again to tell the tale.

If we had been then conquered by the Spaniards, the Roman Catholic religion would probably have been again restored, in England. But a good Providence protected us, and seemed to fight for us; for the Spanish fleet was dreadfully harassed by the winds and storms as well as by the attacks of the English fleet. Queen Elizabeth was so thankful for this providential deliverance, that she went in state to St. Paul's Church to return thanks to the Almighty for the great blessing conferred upon the nation. You have perhaps seen some old pictures of this great fight. In the House of Lords, in London, the defeat of the Spanish Armada is worked in old tapestry all over the walls; and there you see all the noble admirals, and captains of the English fleet who had so boldly fought in the defence of their country.

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Queen Elizabeth shewed her great wisdom by always choosing upright and good ministers; and, by their advice, and her own good sense besides, the affairs of the nation were managed properly. But there were some things in which this Queen seemed to shew a weakness which was in contradiction to the rest of her character; she had always some persons about her who seemed to be chosen for nothing but their handsome appearance, and their taste for gaudy shew and splendour. Lord Leicester was one of these; and he seemed to have nothing to recommend him but his fine person, and his splendid houses, and his rich furniture. The Queen was fond of going about the country, and paying visits to the houses of different noblemen and great gentlemen. We read that Lord Leicester entertained her majesty for many days at his princely mansion at Kenilworth, in Warwickshire, which is

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now nothing but a fine old ruin, just enough to shew what it has been. During this visit, all sorts of fine sights were exhibited, and games, and masquerades, and every kind of nonsense that the people of that age delighted in. There were all sorts of strange wild figures dressed up, and men and women were made to imitate tliose strange sorts of heathen Gods that I once wrote to you about; and there was sham fighting, and tilting, and all sorts of sports; and the Queen seemed to take as much delight in those things as any of the rest of them. These sort of entertainments brought my Lord Leicester into great favour; but sometimes the Queen's mind would be all changed, and the favourite would be in disgrace: and this sort of humour she often shewed to her courtiers according to the changes of her temper and fancy: thus she sometimes shewed herself to be as little minded as other people; though, generally speaking, we have reason to look upon Elizabeth as a great and wise Queen.

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There was the Earl of Essex, too, who was some time afterwards in great favour with the Queen. But he was too proud and haughty to bear with all the changes in her temper: and, when she refused him any of his requests, he would put himself inte a violent rage; and once he even raised an army in rebellion against her. He was, however, overpow ered, and seized, and sent to the Tower, and tried for his life. He was found guilty, and was condemned to be beheaded:-but he all along thought he should escape, never believing that the Queen would sign the warrant for his execution. The truth was, that he had a ring which the Queen had once given him when he was high in her favour and she had told him, that, whenever he was in trouble, if he would but send her that ring, he should be delivered. Accordingly, when he was condemned to be beheaded, he gave the ring to the Countess of Nottingham, beseeching her to deliver it safely,

into the Queen's hands. Essex every moment expected to receive an answer that his life was to be spared. But the deceitful Countess never gave the ring to the Queen. Her husband was an enemy to Essex; and, to please him, she agreed to this piece of cruel wickedness. The Queen wondered, all the time, why Essex did not send the ring; and she was angry to think that he should be too proud and haughty to ask her forgiveness. It is said that Elizabeth was all this time dreadfully disturbed and distressed in her mind, and that it was very long before she could bring herself to sign the warrant for the execution of the Earl. At length, however, she did sign it, and she was never seen to enjoy a happy day afterwards. It is said, that when the Countess of Nottingham was on her death bed, her conscience stung her for her wicked conduct towards the Earl of Essex; she begged that the Queen would come to her, and she then told her the whole truth about the ring: and they say that the Queen was so angry that she even shook the Countess on her very death bed. The Queen then sunk into a gloomy and melancholy state; and she died, in the seventieth year of her age, and the forty-fifth of her reign.

If we cannot very much admire the personal character of Elizabeth, yet her public conduct as a Queen was dictated by a strong desire to do good to the nation. Manufactures and commerce greatly increased during her reign: and every encouragement was given to good and learned men: so that knowledge seemed to increase greatly throughout the kingdom, during this reign; and it seems a most happy and providential thing, that, when there was a desire to study the scriptures and to gain religious instruction, there should be so many great and en lightened scholars who were able to explain all these things and to lay them, in our own language, before the people.

But my letter is getting too long, I shall therefore say no more at present, excepting to remind you that whilst you are reading history you must be careful to remember the dates. Queen Elizabeth died in the year 1603.

J. S.

ON EDUCATION.

SUCH is the nature of man, and so many are the temptations which would lead him astray, that he has need of all the power which education can supply to lead him in the right path. It is a great bles sing for a child to be born in a station of life in which his parents have the means of supplying him with the advantages of education. People in the high and middling classes of life have this advantage, and it is their usual practice to give education to their children; and many, among the poor too, have generally been found who take care so to save their earnings, and regulate their expences, that they may afford to have their children sent to school for instruction: and they have generally said, that this was the best money they ever laid out. It is one of the great privileges of the present day, that the advantages of education are within the reach of persons of all ranks, from the highest to the lowest.

And it would be well if persons of all ranks would consider what is the real intention and use of education. It is to make us wiser, in order that we may be better. We may get much knowledge; but, if we do not become better Christians by it, our knowledge will be but of little use. What good will come of all the learning that the richest and greatest man can acquire, if he has not, at the same time, the heart, and mind, and disposition of a Christian? And, as I write to Cottagers, I would ask, of what use is it that poor children can now answer,

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as they do, all the difficult questions that are put to them at their schools, unless they grow in true Christian knowledge, and piety? But they have the opportunity of religious instruction. Let them consider this, and seek to profit by it!

- I must conclude these remarks with a very short extract from a letter written by the great Lord Burleigh, Lord Treasurer in Queen Elizabeth's time, to the Earl of Shrewsbury." I wish your lordship's son all the good education that may be meet to teach him to fear God, love your lordship, his natural father, and, to know his friends; without any curio sity of human learning, which, without the fear of God, I see doth much hurt to all youth in this time and age."

V.

DRESS. BAD EXAMPLE. THE TESTIMONY OF A FEMALE CONVICT.

"I CAN'T think what's come to Betsy," one day exclaimed, in a pet, a woman who kept a little chandler's shop in a village in Norfolk, to Mrs. Simpson, a shoemaker's wife, her next door neighbour. "When I hired her, she was attentive and industrious; but now, her head runs on nothing but dressing herself out, so that there's no getting any thing done. I've spoken to her, over and over again, but all to no purpose, so I had best hold my tongue, give her warning, and get a better if I can, but they are all bad enough now."

Mrs, Simpson. "Very true, neighbour, they were quite different, I've heard my mother say, in her younger days."

"They are very different from what I remember them in my younger days," remarked a customer, who sat unperceived in a corner of the shop, "and much is the change to be lamented. But has not

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