understood it SHE was but growing out of Childhood when She went among Strangers But She went under the Guard of so exact a Conduct and so much Discretion She expressed such a Gentleness Access to Her was so easie and Her Deportment was so obliging Her Life was such an Example and Her Charity was so Free that perhaps no Age ever had such an Instance Never was there such an universal Love and Esteem one is tempted to seek for other Words if Language did afford them paid to any as She had from Persons of all Ranks and Conditions in the United Provinces It was like Transport and Rapture The Veneration was so profound that how just soever it might be it seemed rather excessive Neither Her Foreign Birth nor Regal Extraction neither the diversity of Interests or Opinions nor Her want of Power and Treasure equal to Her Bounty diminished the Respects that were offered Her even from a People whose Constitution gives them naturally a Jealousie of too great a Merit in those who are at the Head of their Government I am afraid to enlarge too much on the Justice that was done Her in these Parts Or on that universal Mourning with which Her departure from them was followed That seemed scarce capable of an addition till now that there has appeared so black a Gloom of desponding Sorrow spread among them all Despair and Death seeming to dwell on every Face when the dreadful News flew over to them I am afraid I say to dwell too much on this lest it may seem to reproach those who owed Her much more IN Her Character ordinary things how singular soever She might be in them must be thrown into the Heap She was a gentle Mistress a kind Friend if this Word is too low for her State it is not too low for her Humility and above all She was so tender and so respectful a Wife that She seemed to go beyond the perfectest Idea's that Wit or Invention has been able to rise to The lowest Condition of Life or the greatest Inequality of Fortune has not afforded so perfect a Pattern Tenderness and Complacency seemed to strive which of them should be the more eminent She had no higher Satisfaction in the prospect of Greatness that was descending on Her than that it gave Her an occasion of making Him a Present worthy of Himself Nor had Crowns or Thrones any Charm in them that was so pleasant to Her as that they raised Him to a Greatness which He so well deserved and could so well maintain She was all Zeal and Rapture when any thing was to be done that could either express Affection or shew Respect to Him She obeyed with more Pleasure than the most Ambitious could have when they command This Subject is too hard to be well set out and so it must be left in general and larger expressions Those who served Her can never give over when they are relating the Instances of Her gentleness to them all She was so soft when She gave her Orders and so careful of not putting too much upon them so tender of them in their Sickness and Afflictions so liberal on many different occasions that as the Instances are innumerable so they have peculiarities in them which shew that every thing in Her was of a Piece with the rest She shewed a sensibility at the death of those whom She particularly valued that Persons of so exalted a Condition do generally think may mis-become them The many Tears that She shed upon the death of our good Primate who got the start of Her a very few Days shewed how well She understood his Worth and how much She valued it So careful She was of all that belonged to Her that when She saw what her last Sickness was like to grow to She made those who had not yet gone through it withdraw She would suffer none of them to stay about Her when their Attendance might endanger their own Health And yet She was so tender of them when they fell under that so justly dreaded Illness that She would not suffer them to be removed tho' they happened to be lodged very near Her self HER Bounty and her Compassions had great Matter given them to work upon And how wide soever her Sphere may have been She went in this rather beyond her Strength than kept within it Those generous Confessors and Exiles whom the Persecution of France sent over hither as well as to the United Provinces felt the Tenderness as well as the Bounty of the Welcom that She gave them The Confusions of Ireland drive over Multitudes of all Ranks who fled hither for Shelter and were soon reduced to great Straights from a state of as great Plenty Most of these were by Her means both supported during their stay and enabled to return home after that Storm was over The largeness of the Supplies that were given and the tender Manner of giving them made their Exile both the shorter and the more tolerable The miserable among our selves particularly those who suffered by the Accidents of War found in Her a relief that was easily come at and was copiously furnished She would never limit any from laying proper Objects for her Charity in her way Nor confine that Care to the Ministers of the Almonry She encouraged all that were about Her or that had free access to Her to acquaint Her with the Necessities under which Persons of true Merit might languish And She was never uneasie at Applications of that kind nor was her Hand ever scanty when the Person was deserving or the Extremity was pinching She was regular and exact in this She found that even a Royal Treasure tho' dispensed by a Hand that was yet more Royal could not answer all Demands Therefore She took Care to have a just Account both of the Worth and of the Necessities of those who pretended And She shewed in this as great an Exactness and as attentive a Regard as much Memory and as much Diligence as if she had had no Cares of a higher Nature upon Her It seemed She kept Tables or Journals For She had a Method in it with which no Body was ever acquainted as far as I could learn It was very reasonable to believe that She took Notes and set Rules to her Self in this Matter BUT She was so exact to the Rule of the Gospel of managing it with deep Secrecy that none knew what or to whom she gave but those whom she was forced to imploy in it When it was to fall on Persons who had access to Her her own Hand was the Conveyance what went through other Hands was charged on them with an Injunction of Secrecy And She her self was so far from speaking of such Things that when some Persons were offered to her Charity who had been already named by others and were relieved by her self she would not let those who spake to Her upon the Fame of their being in Want understand any thing of the Notice
have we done And what shall we do to be saved HOW just soever any Affliction may seem to be yet it must have its Bounds Our Religion gives a Temper It does not impose upon us the dry Sullenness of Stoicks Their most admired Sayings That Fate is inexorahle That it is in vain to be troubled at that we cannot help And the famed Answer of him who upon the News of his Son's Death said coldly I knew I begat him mortal have an air in them that seems above the present state of human Nature It looks too savage and contrary to those tender Affections that are planted in us and that are in some sort necessary for carrying on the common Concerns of Life But the Extreams on the other hand are much more boisterous and untractable While the Rages of Passion govern neither the Calmness of Reason nor the Authority of Religion will be hearkened to Heathenism was fruitful in the Inventions of Fury Hecatombs of living Creatures were thought poor Oblations Humane Sacrifices were offered liberally on those Occasions nor was the greatest waste of Treasure with all the Profusion of Funeral Piles and magnificent Buildings thought a suitable addressing of their Dead to the invisible State to which they went unless innumerable Ghosts were sent after them as a welcom Convoy to follow them thither When the Civilizing of the World and the Decencies first of Humanity then of Philosophy and chiefly when Revealed Religion came to soften and enlighten Men those outragious Solemnities fell off Tho' the costly Part was by many kept up with too much Ostentation The Corrupters of Religion found that the Tenderness of Affection with that generous Dissinteressedness which it gave offered to them a Harvest that might be fruitful And they were not defective in the Art of Cultivating it OPINIONS were invented and Practices were contriv'd that drew great Wealth into their Hands and begat a Consideration for them which if it had not been over-done by the Managers and that in a manner too course and too ravenous not to be found out at last was bringing the whole World under their Authority Their Title seemed sure And it was to have its chief Operation when both those who died and those who lived were the least able to examine their Pretensions the Fears of the one and the Sorrows of the other made them very pliant to their Conduct and implicite under it WE have a better Light and are governed by truer Measures We know there is a wise Providence and a future State and in those two never failing Sources of Quiet and Submission we give our Sorrows just Abatements But since all the Steps of Providence tho' just and wise in themselves have not the same Face to us some of them being as bright as others are dark we ought not to look on Providence as rigid Fate but as the steady Conduct of a Mind that is infinitely wise we ought therefore to go as far as reasonably we can in judging what is the Language of that Providence to us and what the Designs of it upon us may be THE liveliest as well as the usefullest Exercises of our Thoughts is to summ all that was excellent and imitable in the Person whose Loss we lament to lay it all together to observe how Amiable it was what an Influence it had and in what Effects it appeared This if it rests in the bare commendation of one that may be safely praised when Flattery or Interest cannot be thought to have any share in the Incense that is then given it is at least a Justice to the Memory of a Person that deserved it and a Homage to Vertue it self It will probably go deeper and have its best Effect upon us It will engage us to love those Vertues in our selves which we admire in others and will reproach us if we commend that in another which we take no care to imitate our selves Probably this will not evaporate quite into Discourse or wear off with Time somewhat will stick and have a due Effect upon us Some of those Vertues may so far insinuate themselves into us that we may grow to love and practise them A noble Pattern cannot be much looked at without begetting some disposition to copy after it and to imitate it A great Lustre tho' it may sometimes dazle yet it enlightens as well as it strikes THOSE who are perhaps tied too closely by some fatal Engagements to Practices that they cannot resolve on forsaking yet have that secret Veneration for true Vertue especially for the sublime of it and saw so much of that in our blessed Queen that they may be desirous to see such a just Representation of those various Branches of her Character as may entertain their Admiration at present and be perhaps of some more Use to them in other Periods of their Lives They may desire to be made wiser if not better by it They may hope that what Effect soever it may have on the present Age it will have some on those that are to come It will be a lively Part of our History and set a noble Pattern to succeeding Princes And all Persons how bad soever they may be themselves have too sensible a share in Government not to wish that their Princes were truly and heroically Good A Picture of Her that may have some Life in it is that which all seem to desire Where there were so many peculiar Features and yet so much of Majesty spread over them all it seems as hardly possible not to hit a great deal of the Resemblance as to hit it all and to draw truly and to the life Every one will at first view say It is She But this abatement must be expected that it has not quite taken Her It has not Her Air tho' it may have Her Features The Colours will seem to sink when we remember how the Original it self looked EXTRAORDINARY Degrees of Vertue in Sovereign Princes happen so seldom that it is no wonder if they give the World a surprise that is as great as it is agreeable When we look through past Ages and through all the different Climates and Corners of the World we find little that is truly Eminent without some great diminution accompanying it WE accustom our selves by Study and Observation not to be flattered with the Hopes of seeing Idea's of Perfection on the Throne It seems a Presumption to fansie that our own Times should have a Priviledge that former Ages could not boast We find that even David and Solomon much more had Blemishes almost equal to their Vertues Few of their Successors arrived at their Degree of Perfection tho' they might have all their Allay Hezekiah and Iosiah are the least exceptionable Yet some lesser slips occur even in their History Constantine and Theodosius were two of the greatest Blessings of the Christian Church yet we dare not propose them as Patterns in every thing Clovis and Charles the Great make a mighty
there are no secret Inclinations which lie so quiet that they do never discover themselves in a course of many Years and of unlooked for Accidents than to imagine that they are so covered and managed as to be chained up in a perpetual Restraint There is an Air in what is Genuine that is soon seen I had almost said felt It looks Noble without Strains or Art It pleases as well as it persuades with a Force that is irresistible and how silent soever it may be it looks like the Universal Character 'T is a Language which Nature makes all Men understand how few soever they are that speak it This was so peculiar to Her and so singular in Her that it deserved well to be begun with IN most of those Persons who have been the eminentest for their Piety and Vertue their Thoughts have risen too high for human Nature Their Notions have become too fierce and their Tempers too sullen and untractable They have considered only what was good and desirable in it self without regarding what the World could bear They have not softned themselves enough into that agreeableness of Temper that might give such an amiable prospect of Vertue as should encourage the World to love and imitate it Their Meditations have soured them too much And by an obstinate pursuing their own Idea's without accommodating themselves enough to the frailties of others they have given advantage to those who have studied to load them with Prejudices Their Designs have miscarried and they themselves have become morose and melancholy despairing of doing any thing because they could not hope to do every thing Cato's Error has run thro' the best sort of Men that have ever lived Of projecting a Commonwealth like Plato's when the Romans were run to a dreg Children must be gained even by flattering their Weaknesses and by the softness of Kindness and good Humour The grown state of Man is often but an advanced Childhood A Dotage rather than a Ripeness It must be confessed that few of those who in all other respects seem to have been born for the good of Mankind have been able to give their Notions that turn to set them off with that Air and to recommend them with that Address which we of late admired so much A charming Behaviour a genuine Sweetness and the Sprightliness as well as the Freedom of good Humour had softned all those frightful Apprehensions that the World is too willing to entertain of the Severities of Vertue and of the strictness of true Religion Lesser matters were not much stood on An easie compliance in some of these how little soever they were liked on their own account was intended to give Her advantages in order to the compassing of greater things While a fresh and graceful Air more turned to seriousness but always serene that dwelt on her looks discovered both the perfect Calm that was within and shewed the force as well as the amiableness of those Principles which were the springs of so chearful a Temper and so lively a Deportment THE freedom of Chearfulness is not always under an exact Command It will make escapes from Rules and be apt to go too far and to forget all Measures and Bounds It is seldom kept under a perpetual Guard The openness of Her Behaviour was subject to universal Observation but it was under that regularity of Conduct that those who knew Her best and saw Her oftnest could never discover her Thoughts or Intentions further than as She her self had a Mind to let them be known No half Word or change of Look no Forgetfulness or run of Discourse did ever draw any thing from Her further or sooner than as she designed it This was managed in so peculiar a way that no distrust was shewed in it nor distaste given by it It appeared to be no other than that due reservedness which became her Elevation and suted those Affairs that were to pass thro' her hands When She saw cause for it She had the truest Methods to oblige others to use all due freedom with Her self while yet She kept them at a fit distance from Her own Thoughts SHE would never take any Assistance from those Arts that are become so common to great Posts that some perhaps fansie them necessary She did not cover Her Purposes by doubtful Expressions or such general Words as taken strictly do signifie little but in common Use are understood to import a great deal more As she would not deceive others so she avoided the saying of that which might give them an Occasion to deceive themselves And when she did not intend to Promise she took care to explain Her meaning so critically that it might be understood that no Construction of a Promise was to be made from general Words of Favour In a course of several Years and of many Turns when great Occasion was given for more artificial Methods and when according to the Maxims of the World great Use might have been made of them yet she maintained Her sincerity so entirely to the honour of Truth be it said as well as to Hers that she never once needed Explanations to justifie either Her Words or Actions Integrity preserved Her as well as she preserved it SUCH eminent I am sorry to say such unusual Perfections had they appeared in one of the meanest Capacity and of the lowest degree of Improvement yet must have challenged great Veneration Common observation makes it but too apparent that those of the highest form that have an exaltation in them which makes them like another rank of Mortals that have a true flight of Thought a great compass of Knowledge a stability and equableness of Temper with a deep and correct Judgment who have cultivated the advantages of Nature by searching and laborious Acquisitions such Persons I say do swell too much upon the preference that is due to them and soil those shining distinctions that were born with them by mixtures that need not now be enlarged on A Subject composed of so much Perfection ought not to be digressed from to set out the disorders that appear but too frequently in the sublimest pieces of Mankind These are so unacceptable while Virtue has so benign an aspect that eminent degrees of it tho' joined with a lower proportion of that which seems to have more lustre is much more valuable that all that can be called Great in Human Nature is without it BUT if both these should happen to meet together and that in as high a degree as our mortal State is capable of then we must acknowledge that this is all that we can expect from our Nature under its present depression So few Instances of such a mixture have appeared to us that we must confess it is much more than we ought to look for The History of Princes that have lived at a great distance from us is seldom believed to be so exact especially in the Commandatory part that we rely much upon it Xenophon
become Her by any part of her Behaviour to discourage or seem to dislike one that was doing his best The hardest Censure that she past on the worst was to say nothing to their Advantage For she never denied her Commendations to any Thing that deserved them She was not content to be Devout her self she infused that Temper into all that came near Her Chiefly into those whom she took into her more immediate Care whom she studied to form with the Tenderness and Watchfulness of a Mother She charmed them with her Instructions as she overcame them with her Kindness Never was Mistriss both feared and loved so entirely as She was She scattered Books of Instruction to all were round about Her And gave frequent Orders that good Books should be laid in the places of Attendance that such as waited might not be condemned to Idleness but might entertain themselves usefully while they were in their turns of Service SHE had a true regard to Piety where ever She saw it in what Form or Party soever Her Judgment tied her to our Communion but her Charity was extended to all The Liberty that some have taken to unchurch great Bodies of Christians for some Defects and Irregularities were strains that She could never assent to Nor indeed could She well bear them She longed to see us in a closer Conjunction with all Protestants abroad And hoped we might strenghthen our selves at home by uniting to us as many as could be brought within our Body Few things ever grieved her more than that those Hopes seemed to languish And that the Prospect of so desired an Union vanished out of sight THE raising the Reputation and Authority of the Clergy as the chief Instrument for advancing Religion was that to which She intended to apply her utmost Diligence She knew that the only true way to compass this was to engage them to be Exemplary in their Lives and Eminent in their Labours To watch over their Flocks and to edifie them by good Preaching and diligent Catechising She was resolved to have the whole Nation understand that by these ways and by these only Divines were to be recommended to Favour and Preferment She made it visible that the Steps were to be made by Merit and not by Friendship and Importunity Solicitations and Aspirings were Practices that affected her deeply because She saw the Use that was made of them by malicious Observers Who concluded from thence that we run to our Profession as to a Trade for the sake of the Gains and Honours that we might find in it and not to save Souls or to edifie the Church Every Instance of this kind gave her a sensible Wound because it hardned bad Men in the contempt of Religion She therefore charged those whom She trusted most in such Matters to look out for the best Men and the best Preachers that they might be made known to Her She was under a real anxiety when Church-Preferments especially the more Eminent ones were to be disposed of She reckoned that that was one of the main Parts of her Care for which a particular Account was to be given to that God from whom her Authority was derived and to whom She had devoted it When She apprehended that Friendship might give a Biass to those whom She allowed to speak to Her on those Heads She told them of it with the Authority that became Her and that they well deserved She could deny the most earnest Solicitations with a true Firmness when She thought the Person did not deserve them For that was Superior with Her to all other Considerations But when She denied things She did it with so much Softness and upon so good Reason that such as might be mortified by the Repulse were yet forced to confess that She was in the right Even when for the sake of a Friend they wished that She had for once been in the wrong IT grieved Her to hear how low and depauperated a great many of the Churches of England were become Which were sunk into such extream Poverty that it was scarce possible even by the help of a Plurality to find a Subsistence in them She had formed a great and noble Design to bring them all to a just state of Plenty and to afford a due Encouragement But Pluralities and Non residence when not enforced by real Necessity were otherwise so odious to Her that She resolved to throw such perpetual Disgraces upon them as should oblige all Persons to let go the hold that they had got of these Cures of Souls over whom they did not Watch and among whom they did not Labour IN a full Discourse on this very Subject the Day before the fatal Illness overtook Her she said She had no great hope of mending Matters yet She was resolved to go on and never to suffer Her self to be discouraged or to lose Heart She would still try what could be done and pursue Her Design how slow or insensible soever the Progress might be She had taken Pains to form a true Plan of the Primitive Constitutions and had resolved to bring ours as near it as could be That so it might become more firm and useful for attaining the great Ends of Religion Neither the Spirit of a Party nor of Bigottry lay at the bottom of all this She did not Project any Part of it as an Art of Government or an Instrument of Power and Dominion HER Scheme was thus laid She thought that the Christian Religion was revealed from Heaven to make Mankind happy here as well as hereafter And that as Mankind and Society could not subsist without any Religion at all so also the Corruption of Christianity had made many Nations the worse rather than the better for that Shadow of it that was received among them She thought that a pious learned and a laborious Clergy was the chief Mean of bringing the World under the Power of the Chistian Religion And that the treating their Persons with Respect was necessary to procure them Credit in the discharge of their Function She intended to carry on all this together and not any one Part of it separate from the rest If at any time She knew any thing in those who served at the Altar that exposed them to just Censures She covered it all that could be from common Observation but took Care that the Persons concerned should be both roundly spoke to and proceeded against when softer Methods did not succeed or that it seemed necessary that their Punishment ought to be made as publick as their Crimes were She would never suffer any to go away with a Conceit that a Zeal for the Service of the Crown could atone for other Faults or compound for the great Duties of their Function This seemed to be the setting the Interests of Religion after their own But She was resolved to give them always the preference No Intimation was ever let fall to Her in any Discourse that offered a probable Mean
of making us better which was lost by Her She would call upon some to turn that Motion over and over again till she had formed Her own Thoughts concerning it The last thing that She had settled with our late Blessed Primate was a Scheme of such Rules as our present Circumstances could bear published since by His Majesty Which was an Earnest of many others that were to follow in due time It was indeed an amasing as well as a delightful thing to see how well She understood such Matters and how much she was set on promoting them SHE judged aright That the true End of Power and the best Exercise of it was to do Good and to make the World the better for it She often said that she found nothing in it to make it supportable not to say pleasant besides that And She wondered that the true Pleasure which accompanied it did not engage Princes to pursue it more effectually Without this She thought that a private Life with moderate Circumstances was the happier as well as the safer State When Reflections were once made before Her of the Sharpness of some Historians who had left heavy Imputations on the Memory of some Princes She answered That if those Princes were truly such as the Historians represented them they had well deserved that treatment And others who tread their Steps might look for the same For Truth would be told at last And that with the more acrimony of Style for being so long restrained It was a gentle suffering to be exposed to the World in their true Colours much below what others had suffered at their Hands She thought that all Sovereigns ought to read such Histories as Procopius for how much soever he may have aggravated Matters and how unbecomingly soever he may have writ yet by such Books they might see what would be probably said of themselves when all Terrors and Restraints should fall off with their Lives She encouraged those whom She admitted to frequent access to lay before Her all the Occasions of doing Good that might occur to their Thoughts And was always well pleased when new Opportunities were offered to Her in which She might exercise that which was the most valued of all Her Prerogatives So desirous She was to know both how to correct what might be amiss and to promote every good Design that She not only allowed of great Freedom in bringing Propositions of that kind to Her but She charged the Consciences of some with a Command to keep nothing of that Nature from Her which they thought She ought to know Nor were such Motions ever unacceptable to Her even when other Circumstances made it impossible for Her to put them in execution THE reforming the Manners of Her People was one of Her chief Cares If a greater Progress was not made in this according to the pious Wishes of some who had good Intentions and much Zeal the true Account of that slowness was this She had often heard that the Hypocrisie of the former Times had brought on the Atheism and Impiety of the present and had fortified Libertines in their Prejudices Therefore She resolved to guard against every thing that might seem to revive that She observed that Iosiah was for the space of four Years engaged in a Religious course of Life before he set himself to the reforming of his People That by the Example he set them he might gain so much Credit in carrying on that Design as might excuse as well as compensate the slowness of beginning it She judged that all People ought to be well possessed of their Intentions in that Matter And She feared lest in the dis-jointed State in which our Affairs have lain so long the going on with that Design might have the Face of serving some other End under that appearance For that will be Popular even when things are in a very corrupt State Therefore tho' this was no sooner moved to Her than She set it a going yet finding few Instruments to concur in it and seeing a violent Opposition to those that did She thought that the putting Her whole Strength to it might be reserved with great Advantage to a-another time in which our Affairs should have a calmer Face and be brought to a more sedate State She did hearken carefully after every thing that seemed to give some hope that the next Generation should be better than the present with a particular Attention She heard of a Spirit of Devotion and Piety that was spreading it self among the Youth of this great City with a true Satisfaction She enquired often and much about it and was glad to hear it went on and prevailed She lamented that whereas the Devotions of the Church of Rome were all Shew and made up of Pomp and Pageantry that we were too bare and naked And practised not enough to entertain a serious Temper or a warm and and affectionate Heart We might have Light enough to direct but we wanted Flame to raise an exalted Devotion I have now given some Instances of the Temper of Her Mind in that which concerned God and Religion I go in the next place to consider Her with relation to human Nature PRINCES are raised so far above the rest of Mankind that they do generally lose sight of those Miseries to which the greater part is subject It would disturb that Ease in which they pass away their Hours too much to hear dismal recitals of the Calamities of their People How much soever they may be lifted up with the glorious Title of the Parents of their Country yet for the most part they know little of the Pressures their People lie under and they feel them less Our blessed Queen was become the Delight of all that knew Her by the obliging Tenderness with which She treated all those who came near Her She made the Afflictions of the Unfortunate easier to them by the share that She bore of them and the Necessities of the Miserable the more supportable by the relief that She gave them She was Tender of those who deserved her Favour and Compassionate towards those who wanted her Pity It was easie for Her to reward For all sorts of Bounty flowed readily from Her But it was much harder for Her to punish except when the nature of the Crime made Mercy become a Cruelty and then She was Inflexible not only to Importunity but to the Tenderness of Her own compassionate Heart SHE was indeed happily framed by Nature Which wrought so soon that it prevented Education She was good and gentle before She was capable of knowing that She ought to be so This grew up with Her in the whole Progress of Childhood She might need Instruction but she wanted no Persuasion And I have been often told that She never once in the whole course of her Education gave any occasion to reprove Her So naturally did She go into every thing that was Good often before She knew it and always after She once