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a curled lip, and a hand ever grasping devise of a castell of cloth of gold, a dagger, which points to a poisoned &c. At night the cuppboard in the bowl this horrible janitor she vi- hall was of twelve stages, mainlie sited during her progress in 1578, and furnished, with garnish of gold and was in the habit of receiving fre- silver vessul, and a banket of seventie quently at court!! To common dishes, &c.. The next day the play sense I propose these queries:-Is it of Holophiernes was performed." likely that a female, possessed of Not only were the personal exsovereign power, would fondly revisit penses of the princess unlimited, and the prison in which she had often her liberty entire, but she was alslept under the horrible dread of as- lowed to maintain a sort of court at sassination? And could human le- Hatfield, and possessed a palace in nity so far conquer the natural sug- town. Strype tells us, that, on such gestions of repugnance, as to allow a day, "the Lady Elizabeth came the possibility of a voluntary and con- riding from her house at Hatfield to vivial intercourse with the wretch London, attended with a great comfrom whose poinard she had escaped panie of lords, and nobles, and gentleby chances little short of miracles? The prison-room, iron-bars, assassin, bowl of hemlock, &c. were the offspring of Fox's poetical imagination. From Fox, Holinshed transcribes; and Holinshed, succeeding historians refer to as authority! Such is the basis of historical assertion!!

men, unto her place called Somerset Place, beyond Strond Bridge, to do her duty to the Queen." In another part, he says, "that aforenoon the Lady Elizabeth's grace took her horse, and rode to her palace of Shene, with many lords, knights, ladies, and gentlemen, and a goodlie company of horse, (i. e. attendants)."

But the part of Queen Elizabeth's story rendered most dramatic by the Her visits to court were far from legend-bearers is the circumstance of infrequent, and her entertainment her being removed from a PRISON to there, now that she preserved herself a throne. Here is contrast in perfec- from all suspicion of political intion. A frightful, excavated recess trigue, was friendly and magnificent: on one hand, with bolts and bars In one of her visits she went by warusted by noxious vapours: on the ter in the Queen's barge, which was other, a crown, the dazzling rays of richly hung with garlands of artificial diamonds, the homage of a world, flowers, and covered with a canopy the possession of absolute power. In of the most costly description. Six the back-ground (a striking figure!) boats attended the procession, filled behold blood-thirsty Mary" In with her highness's retinue, habited dreadful secresy she sharpens the in russet-damask, and blue embroiknife intended to pierce, in the dark dered sattin, spangled with silver. solitude of a dungeon, the bosom of her enchained sister!-The vizor would be highly attractive, says the fable, if it had brains; and this story would be extremely interesting if it

were true.

On Christmas eve, the great hall of the palace was illuminated with a thousand lamps, curiously disposed. The princess supped at the same table in the ball with the King and Queen, next to the cloth of state. On the 29th day of December, she sat with their majesties, at a grand spectacle of justing, &c.

The prison from which Elizabeth was moved, on the death of her sister, was, it may be recollected, the palace of Hatfield. Here she had a retinue From these brief quotations, the and establishment befitting her ex- nature of Mary's severity towards her alted rank. An extract from a cu- sister must fully appear; and the rious MS. Chronicle describes one of drama of history be proved deficient her entertainments as "a great and in all but poetical justice. Would rich maskinge, wher the pageants the woman, who treated an offensive were marvellously furnished. There sister with so much real generosity, were thar twelve minstrels, anticly have beheaded Mary Queen of Scots ? disguised, with forty six, or more, The invidious comparison between gentlemen and ladies, many of them the sister-queens, suggested by most knights or nobles; and there was a historians, and admired by many rea

ders, surely, in this particular, defeats without determined to be partial and its own purpose. On a strict and unjust, we must suppose that she fair parallel, Mary would be found was equally indeterminate on all deficient in two instances, which un- other subjects to which her assent happily rendered nearly useless that was necessary.

natural integrity of heart, which, But Sir Thomas Wyat's conspiracy from her demeanor towards Eliza- (a rare opportunity for ridding herself beth, I must believe she possessed:- of her rival, if such a purpose had She was inferior in strength of mind, occupied her mind) occurred before and in those qualifications which are her marriage. From this peril there. the result of instruction. It is well fore, of course, Elizabeth was not known that the papists of this distant preserved by her brother-in-law. age were not fond of disseminating Philip was likewise absent in Spain learning among the laity; and the for a considerable period, and a sanpriests from whom Mary received her guinary tyrant would scarcely have education had a particular and ob- failed to profit by his absence. A vious interest in preserving her in thousand hands only waited for her such a state of mental deficiency, as signal to stretch Elizabeth a corpse would render her a more obedient on the floor of that Hertfordshire painstrument of their wishes, should lace, which, by favour of a poetical she ever attain supremacy in the license, our historians are pleased to state. On every occasion Mary's term a dungeon.

want of expanded views and exten- Should any writer undertake the sive information may be readily de- history of this reign, with the genetected. In no one instance did she rous wish of eliciting truth, he will eyer exhibit proofs even of natural find more MS. chronicles to assist his shrewdness, or untutored political labour than would the narrator of any ability. Is it not then equitable to other remote period of our history; place her acquiescence in the religious and I repeat that, from Mary's concruelty which marked her reign, ra- duct in regard to Elizabeth accurately ther to her want of independence of investigated, be will be able to exhisentiment than to such a constitu- bit her personal character in a light tional barbarity as would entitle her quite different from that in which it to the opprobrious appellation of a has usually been placed. sanguinary tyrant? When we view the extreme forbearance with which she acted in regard to Elizabeth, so truly offensive in so many particulars, we must be bigots, though in an opposite direction to Mary, if we persist in thinking otherwise.

I am, Sir, &c.

J. N. BREWER.

On HEALTH and Longevity. By the Rev. JOSEPH TOWNSEND, Rector of Pewsey, Wilts.

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If (intent on preserving the stigma bear much in colleges of the which historians have affixed to the Vis inertia of matter, that is name of this unfortunate princess) it of its tendency to persevere in a state is contended that Elizabeth was saved of rest or of motion in oue right line, from destruction, purely by the inter- till it is either moved or diverted ference of Philip, Mary's husband, I from its course by some foreign reply, that in no instance, on valid power. Such is Inertia is found in authority, can this be proved the case; the human constitution, which, by the but even admitting the possibility of laws of nature, will preserve its course such a presumption being correct, it even to extreme old age, unless dis must assuredly strengthen the grounds turbed by some error, in, what by on which I affirm that scarcely any physicians have been denominated, act of Mary's reign was the result of the non-naturals. Of these, the most her personal inclination. Since, if subject to our dominion are the she spared her most offensive foe, retenta et excreta. To them therewhether we look on the enmity as fore our principal attention should be religious or otherwise, at the solicita- directed, that we may set a watch tion of the man who had not indivi- over the door of our lips, or if, through dual power to command, certainly, want of caution, we have suffered the

enemy to enter the fortress; we may cay, and in our decrepitude not one hasten his departure by those means, tooth remains. which nature has placed within our reach. For this purpose the adage of Lord Bacon should never be forgotten:-" "Nil tam ad sanitatem & longevitatem conducit quam crebræ & domestice purgationes.'

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It is well understood that plethora produces apoplexy. What precaution then can be applied? What renedy provided against immoderate increase in bulk and repletion of the

vessels?

Next to occasional absti

can be so effectual as that recom

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mended by Lord Bacon, his
bræ & domesticæ purgationes."
So much for plethora, and for the
most fatal disease attendant upon it

It is universally understood, that nence and habitual temperance none temperance contributes much health, and health to protracted life. But few men, when they sit down to pleasant food, are strictly temperate. Hence it comes to pass, that want of health is frequently attendant upon afBluence. Disease, however, and premature decay are not the peculiar

inheritance of wealth. All men are liable to exceed the bounds of mode

ration, and to overload the alimentary

canal. In such circumstances the best preventative against disease is to hasten the discharge of this superabundance from the body by some slight cathartic, such as may, give relief without impairing the powers of digestion.

as the immediate cause.

But independently of this, should the intestines themselves be overloaded, various diseases must be the Among these, and consequence. not the least formidable, is to be rec

koned apoplexy, so fatal to both young and old, who indulge, beyond the bounds of moderation, their appetite for food.

The apoplexy here brought forward to our notice, is not the same species with that which is attendant upon plethora, but may be produced As we advance in years, modera- either by the pressure of a loaded tion becomes more essentially need- stomach on the descending aorta, or ful to the preservation of health. Till by spasmodic stricture of the dia we have arrived at the acme of our phragm in that part, through which growth, a constant supply is to be this artery descends. provided, not merely for reparation The proper remedy for this repleof daily waste, but for increase in tion of the bowels is temperance; bulk. After this period the quantity but, as the bowels when overcharged of food should be diminished, be- with food become more sluggish in. cause one principal purpose of the in- their peristaltic motion, the remedy creasing demand has been completely proposed by Lord Bacon will here answered, and nothing remains to be apply, and it will be found that "Nil provided for but the daily waste. tam ad sanitatem & longevitatem conShould, however, the supply of ali- ducit quam crebræ & domesticæ purment continue undiminished, this gationes." superabundance, if digested and received into the system, must produce immoderate repletion of the vessels, and tend to bring on apoplexy, which may terminate either in palsy or in

death.

The greatest number of the human race perish by acute diseases, cut off before the maturity of age.

Those are commonly attended by inflammatory symptoms, at least in

their commencement, and never fail Nature herself suggests to us the to be aggravated, when the intestines necessity of some regulation as to our happen to be loaded with indigested quantity of food, and provides a re- sordes. Hence on their first attack, medy against inordinate repletion. the expert physician is ever anxious For as from our infancy, till we ar- to begin his operations by evacuating rive at maturity, the number of teeth the alimentary canal. But frequently is constantly increasing, and with our it happens that he is called in too late; increasing years new grinders are the strength of the patient has been produced; so, when we have reached exhausted by the disease, and the the acme of our growth, the last ac- whole class of evacuants must then quired teeth are the first in their de- be most sparingly applied,

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Now, had the patient either have impeded, he commanded the herald been sufficiently temperate in his to proclaim, that "they should requantity and choice of food, or had frain drinking from that river, for he been in the habit of cleansing from the water had a deadly quality." They time to time the alimentary canal, the abstained from fear, and quickened necessity for powerful evacuants would their march. He pushed his rout, not have existed, and by proper ma- and fixed his tents, and then he and nagement he would in most diseases his officers, in the sight of the solhave had the greatest probability of diers, drank at the river. They all cure, and would have remained with laughed on discovering the cause of this conviction on his mind, that the deceit, and quenched their thirst "Nil tam," &c. without any apprehension.

With increasing years a natural No. 34.-Cambyses. torpor is produced, which usually ex- Cambyses besieged Pelusuim. The tends to the alimentary canal. This Egyptians made a brave resistance; we find increased in persons of seden- and shutting up the ports of Egypt, tary habits, by the determination to and drawing up their machines, they the internal surface which loads the poured from them their sharp darts, mucous glands, lines the intestines stones, and fire. Cambyses, because with a tenaceous phlegm, prevents the Egyptians worshipped such anithe action of the bile, and produces

costiveness.

In such circumstances the most effectual remedy is to be sought for in the deterging process recommended by our great philosopher.

From the observations I have had an opportunity of making in the course of a long life among the rich, and a very extensive practice among the poor, I am convinced that nothing contributes more to health and longe vity than proper attention to the aliinentary canal. This part nature has subjected to our controul; of the other organs she takes charge herself. By attention to this we may enjoy a vegete old age; by neglect and by abuse of it we may hasten premature decrepitude and death.

mals, placed before his army, the ibis, dogs, sheep, and cats. The Egyptians suspended thowing, lest they should strike any one of the sacred animals. Thus Cambyses took Pelusuim, and advanced into Egypt.

No. 35.-Xerxes.

Xerxes had lost many Persians at Thermopile, on account of the narrow passes of the mountains; when one Ephialtes, a native of Trachis, pointing out to him a straight path round the mountains, he sent two thousand men to come on the back of the Grecians, who slew all that were led by Leonidas.

No. 36.-Mithridates. Mithridates was commanded by the king to slay, or to bring alive to him, Datames, who had rebelled. On some future occasion I may He himself pretended also to have reenlarge upon this subject, and sub- volted from the king: but Datames mit to your readers the observations would not credit him till he had I have made on the numerous spe- committed considerable devastations cies included in that class of medi- in the king's dominions. He immecine which this great philosopher diately began his depredations; he recommends to our attention.

EXTRACTS from POLYÆNUS' STRA-
TAGEMS. By Dr. TOULMIN.
[Continued from p.393.]

No. 33.-Alexander.

destroyed even to the ground the royal castles, burnt the villages, plundered the revenues, and carried off a great booty. He thus made a show of hostility to the king. They then both met together unarmed, to deliberate on proper measures. MithriALEXANDER led his army by dates had previously collected toge the side of a river, the enemy ther on the spot in the night a numlving along the bank, in a hot season. ber of daggers, and hid them in difThe thirsty soldiers cast their eyes, he ferent parts of the ground, putting a observed, on the flowing water. mark on them. In the course of Lest, by drinking, they should break conversation, he by degrees led him, their ranks and their march should be as they were walking, to one place;

and when they had sufficiently talked king the head of Crassus. At this over subjects, Datames saluted him there was a general shouting and and walked off. Mithridates instant- clapping of hands. Exaithres, jumply laid hold of a poignard, and con- ing up, cried out, "I had better join cealed it under his left hand, and in these songs and chorus than with called Datames back, as if he had the tragedian." The king, being forgotten something which he ought much pleased, gave Jason a rich preto have said. When Datames re- sent, and bestowed on Exaithres the turned, pointing to one hill, he ad- honours of the country. vised him to fortify that hill; and Mithridates, stabbing Datames in the back as he turned to look at the hill, slew him.

No. 38. Numa.

Numa, desirous of diverting the attention of the Romans from war and slaughter to peace and legislation, No. 37.-Surenas. withdrew from the city to the sacred Surenas, the general of the Par- grove of the nymph Egena: when he thians, when Crassus was retreating had spent many days there he reafter a great slaughter, and attempt- turned, bringing with him the oracles ing a march over very high grounds of the nymph, which he advised from fear that desperation would them to receive as laws. The Rourge him to renew the battle, sent an mans obeyed him. All the feasts, anibassador to him, to say, "that sacrifices, expiations, and sacred rites, the great king offered him friendship, which are in use this day are the for as he had shown the Romans his same which Numa ordained, as the bravery, he wished to give them a institutions of the nymph. proof of his humanity." Crassus, He appears to me to have been, in suspecting treachery, was not com- this respect, the rival of Minos and pliant. The soldiers, dispirited and Lycurgus. For so they, having quite worn out with fatigue, clashed learnt or pretending to have received their arms together, and compelled their laws, the former from Jupiter, him to credit the Barbarian.. Crassus the latter from Apollo, the one prereluctantly went to him on foot. Su- vailed with the Laconians, the other renas received him with great polite- with the Cretans, to adopt them. ness, and presented to him a horse No. 39.-Tarquinius. with a bridle that had a gold bit, on Tarquinius, having for a long time. which he directed him to sit. He besieged Gabii and not being able to mounted the horse; but the Barba- take it, ordered his youngest son rian, being a manager of horses, ap- Sextus to be scourged, and then sent plied the spur to it and put it on full him off as a deserter. The Gabians, speed; so that it carried Crassus into perceiving how his body was marked the midst of the Parthians. Octavius, with severe stripes, received him, an officer of Crassus, perceiving the making many and great professions trick, seized the reins; and after him of what he would do against his faPetronius, one of the Tribunes, did ther. As he carried his threats into the same; when Octavius, drawing execution, confidence was placed in his sword, slew Surenas. A Parthian him. He laid waste the lands of the on that killed Octavius; and Exaith- Romans, put the inhabitants to flight, res, another Parthian, Crassus; and, took many of them prisoners, and cutting of his head and right hand, conqueredem in many skirmishes. bore them to Herod the Great, King The Gabians, filled with admiration, of the Parthians. It happened, that invested him with the absolute comat that instant of time, the king was mand of their forces. On this he entertaining some friends, and was secretly sent a messenger to his listening, over the cup, to the trage- father, to ask him what steps he dian Thrason, of Thrallis, acting a should take? Tarquinius, happenpart in the Bacchis of Euripides. ing at that time to be in conversation The actor was reciting this verse: in his garden, struck off the heads "From the mountains we lead a new of the highest poppies, and said to "Slain heifer to the temple; a propitious the messenger, "Teil my son to do booty." the same." When he had made his They brought in and offered to the report, Sextus put to death the lead

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