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england_n	king_n	religion_n	scotland_n	2,533	5	8.0967	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A33874	A collection of the funeral-orations, pronounc'd by publick authority in Holland upon the death of ... Mary II Queen of Great Britain, &c. by Dr. James Perizonius ..., Dr. George Grevius ..., F. Francius ..., Mr. Ortwinius ..., and, the learned author of the Collection of new and curious pieces ; to which is added, the invitation of the chancellor of the electoral University of Wittenberg, in Saxony, to George Wilbain Kirchmais, to pronounce a funeral oration upon the Queen's death, &c. ; done into English from the Latin originals.	Kirchmaier, Georg Wilhelm, 1673-1759.; Francius, Petrus, 1645-1704. Oratio in funere Magnae Britanniae, Franciae, et Hiberniae Reginae Mariae. English.; Graevius, Joannes Georgius, 1632-1703. Mariae Stuartae ... Britanniae, Galliae, et Hiberniae Reginae ... justa persoluta. English.; Ortwinius, Joannes. Laudatio funebris recitata post excessum Serenissimae ... Mariae Stuartae. English.; Spanheim, Friedrich, 1632-1701. Laudatio funebris ... Mariae II Magnae Britanniae, Franciae, et Hiberniae Reginae. English.	1695 (1695)	Wing C5203; ESTC R10177	94,331	161

Daughters have done Virtuously but thou excellest them all Now in regard that all the Precepts of the Gospel are enclos'd in these two things love God with all thy Heart and thy Neighbour as thy self these were the two Essential things that comprehend so many others which this Pious Soul most effectually studyed 'T was by Reading and meditating upon the word of God that her Soul was purified and exercis'd it self in the desires of Eternal Blessings That we may be always with God it behoves us to Read and Pray often God speaks to us in Scripture and we speak to God in Prayer says St. Austin The Reading of the Holy Scripture fills the Soul with light and separating it from the Vanities of the World raises it up to the Love of God This our Pious Princess knew most admirable well and this was that which she practic'd with a Devotion and Zeal always worthy of Applause With what respect with what attention did she Read this Sacred and Divine word With what Zeal and Fervency did she apply her self to Prayer This is the accomplishment of Happiness said David Happy is the Man who sets his Affection upon the Law of the Lord and meditates upon it Day and Night Happy he who Addresses himself to thee I lift up my self to thee and I make my Prayer to thee in the Morning In this sacred Book it was that this Pious Princess had learnt that the only employment of the blessed in Heaven will be to adore God Holy Holy Holy Lord God who art and will be for ever is the continual Song of the blessed Spirits above You People of the World who only conform your selves to the examples of the Grandees upon Earth learn from the Pattern of the most solid and most Illustrious Piety that can be set before your Eyes to make Prayer a most assiduous and regular Duty Prayer is no way different from the Practice of other Virtues and we attain to it by the same ways 'T is by a diligent Care and Practice in applying the mind to the objects of Faith in entertaining good Thoughts and by endeavouring to excite in our selves Holy desires and Holy affections Not but these means may be sufficient of themselves to cause them to grow in us but because that God is pleas'd to conceal his supernatural Operations under those means that appear Human. Knock and it shall be opened unto yee ask and you shall receive The Queen's great employments never hindered her one Day from being present at publick Prayers which may be said to be the least time that she employed on that Duty For how often in her Closet did she not humble her self before the King of Kings in whose sight the King 's of the Earth are but as Dust to acknowledge how mean and despicable she was in comparison of him before whom the Angels cover their Faces With what Humility did she not pay him Homage for all that she had and for all that she was Nor can I pass over in silence the trouble and perplexity of this great Princess when the Prince her August Husband after redoubled sollicitations from the English Nation found himself constrain'd to pass over into England Which way soever the Princess turn'd her self at that time she beheld nothing on every side but occasions of fear and affliction France and the King of England in League together were upon the point of destroying the protestant Religion This Republick saw themselves in imminent danger The liberty of Europe was threatned with approaching Ruin England in particular was in such an agitation as tended to a general Insurrection The wrong'd and oppress'd People were resolv'd to hazard all rather then see their Laws and their Religion overturn'd In this extremity what was our Princess to do but pray to God as she did without ceasing in the publick Churches in her Chapel privately in her Closet that he would be pleas'd in order to the accomplishment of his Holy Will to direct all things for his Glory to the advancement of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ his Son and the preservation of the lives of Two Princes of which the one was her Father and t'other was become another self as being ty'd to her by the strongest tyes on Earth God heard her Prayers Never was a Revolution of that importance with less Tumult with more Calmness and less Bloodshed The People who had call'd in that grsat Prince for the support of their Laws and their Religion receive him with loud Acclamations and Testimonies of their extraordinary joy Afterwards K. James took upon him a Resolution to retire out of his Kingdom without being oblig'd to it and without the least violence offer'd to him 'T was to the prudent Conduct of the present King and the Queens Prayers that we are to ascribe the success and easiness of this miraculous Revolution through the dispensation of Divine Providence They who had the Honour to be acquainted with the Character of this great Queen well knew that the lustre of a Crown did never dazle her No never Princess of such an Illustrious Birth and Rank as hers descended as every body knows from a long Race of Kings and Ally'd to the greatest Princes of Europe was endued with such a real Humility And thô she were more capable of Reigning then any Person of her Sex and that she had given Testimonies of it in ticklish and difficult Conjunctures and thô she performed that burthensome employment so much to the satisfaction of the English as will cause her to be always belov'd and lamented by that Nation nevertheless there was a real sorrow to be perceived in her Countenance that she was to quit this Country to which she had been accustomed and to whom the pleasantness of it appeared so charming where she had been respected caress'd esteem'd and if I may presume to say it ador'd by all the World where while she led a calm and pleasing Life she has been heard to say and I have heard her my self when she was congratulated upon her advancement to the Crown That many times so much Grandeur was a burth●n That in such Stations People liv'd with less content to themselves then others and that she should wish she were in Holland again And indeed she had Reason to say so For it may be said of those that Govern that they resemble the Stars that shine with a bright luster but are never at rest And this repose it is which being made so good a use of as she was wont to do that is so beneficial for those that desire to take care of their Salvation 'T was this desire of her Salvation which estrang'd her so fervently from the things of this World and which caus'd her to think so often of her end 'T was this Idea of unavoidable death which this devout Soul still set every day before her Eyes looking upon it as attended and accompany'd with the Sentence of God that will in that very moment

like manner Domestic Servants and Subjects derive their Dye and Colour from the Life and Conversation of the Princess and their Sanctity and Integrity from the Prince who is the Head of the Commonweal Antiquity has recorded that Midas being initiated into sacred Rights by Orpheus fill'd all Phrygia with Religion which render'd the Country much more durably safe then the strength of her Arms. Therefore the most Serene Princess consecrated certain fix'd Hours to Divine Worship which she either spent in Prayer or else in reading Books of good and solid Divinity Sublime Example fit to be transmitted by Encomiums Eulogies Orations Writings and Monuments to all Posterity and to be erected to the Eternal Infamy of Slothful and Irreligious Matrons When those more solemn Duties of Religion were over she never gave her Mind to the frivolous stories of Amadis and impertinent Fictions of Amad. but attentively studied the Volumes of those Authors by which she might improve her Knowledge and her Prudence And lest most learned Auditors any one should think this short Oration compos'd at the obsequious Instigations of specious and pleasingly delusive Flattery I shall relate not what I gathered from the common report of Fame but from the Lips of a most worthy Person and my Friend who being admitted in the Morning to kiss her Hands found before her Cambden's Annals of Queen Elizabeth and Doctor Burnet's History of the Reformation But Piety is never to be accounted solidly accomplish'd unless accompanied with Liberality otherwise it would be Piety only in words and not in deeds as she her self upon the approach of her Expiring Minutes discours'd of a Godly and Vertuous Life You People of France who abandoning your Native Soyl because you would not suffer Violence upon your Consciences nor listen to the adulterate Charms of Bards and Druids You People of France I say depriv'd of all supports of Life fled to this most Clement Princess as to the Altar of some Sanctuary or some present Female Deity What time the Princess struck with Compassion pleaded your unfortunate Cause before the Fathers of the Country she sweetly sollicited the wealthy Treasures of many to pity your Condition Sollicited do I say Nay more she sent 'em away reliev'd and succour'd with her own Royal Revenues That others also were no less Sharers in her Princely Munificence the Money which she order'd to be solded and seal'd up in Papers and distributed without Vainglory and with an unwearied Charity to the Indigent sufficiently manifested Believing it more Generous and more Praiseworthy by this means to oblige her Debtors which were many see that for two or three Years together she order'd to be expended and divided considerable Sums of Money to those who in the Cities of Holland were not able to provide against the extremities of the Season and the injuries of the Weather That she was affable and courteous by which she acquir'd the Respect and Love of all Persons is undeniably acknowledg'd on every Hand For what was more usually observ'd in this Princess She never stay'd for the most convenient times of Address and the fittest times to be spoken with but meeting the Desires of those that made their Suits and Petitions to her receiv'd 'em with a Serene Countenance Saving the Veneration that was due to her believing that Affability and Gravity might reside together in one Mansion she re-saluted those that bow'd to her offer'd what not desir'd rightly deeming that no Person was to return dissatisfied and Pensive from the Presence of a Prince which was the saying of that Emperor who was call'd the Love and Delight of Mankind Now then if we but duly consider those Vertues most Learned Auditors what Man so Iron-Tongu'd and Leaden-hearted who can blame all sorts of Persons whether of high or low degree for being perplexed and troubled at the departure of a Princess so Pious so munificent But unavoidable Necessity demanded and commandingly requir'd that she must begin and follow her beloved Husband the most renown'd of Generals then busily engag'd to deliver the Necks of the English from being trampled on by Superstition and illegal Slavery But when the most Serene Princess call'd to mind the remembrance of her Subjects by whom she was most entirely and dearly reverenc'd and esteem'd when she thought of that Palace of Loo where she oft went to alleviate and divert the Cares of her Mind from having a full Prospect of the Woods and spacious Fields of Velau she beheld her Husband in pursuit of the wild Beasts with a full Cry when she revolv'd in her Mind how terrible a thing it was for a Kingdom to be without a Head and Chieftain contented with her Lot and sore against her Will she was torn away by Force from her Belgian Delights The publick Cause was in Dispute and that overcame her Charity toward her Subjects her Country Pleasures her Moderation her equity of Mind nay even the Considerations which she had for her Father himself whom she never went about to impugn nor ever desir'd his being ejected but enforc'd only to Consent that a Parliament might be duly Summon'd and that what had been alter'd shaken or broken might be restor'd to their former State that is to say according the Laws and most ancient Constitutions of the Kingdom which he had sworn to observe and that above all things care might be taken that Religion and Liberty might receive no harm Reluctant therefore and as it were by Constraint for according to the Socratic Paradox a Wise Man does nothing unwillingly nothing for which he is sorry nothing by Compulsion departing from us upon the twelfth of March in the Year 1689 with a fair Wind she arriv'd in England which was now without a Governour and where the Army was without a Leader But lest any External Force while the Minds of the People were variously distracted and provok'd as Rumour spread abroad the Nobility and Gentry of the Kingdom resolv'd to resign the Care of the Kingdom and Administration of the Government to the two Princes and upon the seventh of the Kalender of March in the year before-mention'd the same day as some aver that put an end to the Reign of Tarquin the proud declar'd William and Mary King and Queen of England France and Ireland and upon the third of the Ides of April what day they obtain'd the Royal Crown and Scepter King and Queen of Scotland also From that time forward they held the two Kingdoms with equal Auspices and concording Minds yet so that by reason of the Wars which the French King grasping in his boundless hopes the Dominion of all Europe have every where inflam'd was forc'd to cross the Seas and remain abroad for some time Therefore during the absence of the King the Empire of the Kingdom so great was her Genius was committed to her Care which she manag'd with so much prudence and fortitude that she repell'd from the Coasts of the Kingdom an Insulting Enemy menacing to Land

his Beams However She shone with Her own and Her ownmost Radiant Light and made it doubtful which way She from Her self diffus'd the serenest Light whether by her Royal Descent or by weilding the Royal Scepter Her self in her own Right Associate of the Empire or lastly by Her Royal Vertues and Graces conspicuous through all the Regions of the Earth Where the Sun hides and where he brings forth Day And wherein She far surpasses the Lot of all Women What August Queen did ever the least Fabulous Annals what Queen did former Intervals of Ages measur'd by the Line of our Ancestors or the Times wherein we live e're shew to the World who from an interrupted series of succession of Kings like Hers deriv'd her Birth and of whom with more Justice and without Assentation it be unanimously said Missa per innumeros Sceptra tuetur Avos Scepters does She defend That from unnumber'd Ancestors descend We take no Notice of Kings descended from the Immortal Gods the Father of the Romulean Race from Mars the Macedonian Amyntas or Philip from Hercules the Hornbearing Alexander from Jupiter the Julian Pedegree from Aeneas and Venus into which the Wife of Augustus by the Name of the Goddess Julia is to be inserted How much more true and sacred without offence to these Deities was the Original of this PRINCESS who understood Her self to be not only the Progenie of the Stuarts from Robert the Second Sirnamed the Happy and three Ages lower but from a more Ancient Original of the Royal Race in Scotland not to descend into the dubious Succession of Hector Boetius Then from the Anglo-Saxons by the Marriage of Margaret to Malcolm the Second From the Norman by the Marriage of the Daughter of Henry VII and Elizabeth the Wife of James IV. From the Danes by Ann Her Great Grandmother Lastly from the Blood of France by Her Grandmother Mary of Bourbon the no less Unfortunate Mother of the unfortunate James So that to what ever corner of the Heaven our Heroess turn'd Her Eyes she certainly saw her Ancestors Cloath with Royal Dignity But tho she were descended from such a Progeny of Kings and would to God she had been the Mother of Kings Since Women born there never was any like her who as it were forgetful of her Extraction of her Ancestors and the Power derived from Antiquity which many believe to be sufficient to authorize their Transgression who carried her self more humbly to all Fortunes Degrees and Conditions of Men even to the poorest sort negligent of her Station and that Towring Throne from whence with her Great WILLIAM she gave Laws to so many spacious Kingdoms so many Seas Islands and People MARY in that same High Degree of Dignity would not be thought unworthy of the Scepters of her Ancestors nor the Glory of her Progenitors nor her own proper Lot to Command and Reign She bore in mind that High and Low were in subjection to the same Law of saving and coming into the World tho the same Fortune and Splendor did not attend all alike yet all were of the same Mould they who are cloathed with Imperial Purple and they who are forc'd to shroud themselves under the meanest Cottages Which was the saying of Socrates that there was no difference between Alcibiades nobly descended and the most Obscure Porter She well knew that Long descent and Ancient Lineage were but vain shadows that the Blood which is sprightly and ruddy in Youth grows languid and degenerates with Age or rather that the Beams of the most Splendid Light diffuse themselves upon Common-sewers That is to say upon Julia's and Agrippina's upon Caligula's and Nero's upon Domitian's and Nero's born to be the Insamy of their Families rather Excrements then Blood Whence it came to pass that they rather chose to be accounted the Heads and founders of their Race and Name then that it should be thought the Glory of their Ancestors extinguished in them I remember Noble Hearers the one day that this Pious and Pensive Princess recalling to Mind her Father who had so lately rul'd most flourishing Kingdoms but gone astray from that Faith which the Laws of God and Man had establish'd ever since the Reign of Edward VI the Josiah of his Age and which his Father and Grandfather had subscrib'd to I remember I say that being admitted into her Private Chappel after she had let fall a showre of Tears she gave thanks to God the Supream Parent of all things who sometimes forsook the Sons and Grand-children of Hero's sometimes in them supply'd what was wanting in their Parents correcting the Vice of Nature by the Benefit of Grace Which when I had confirmed by the Examples of her self and her Great Grandfather James the Son of Unfortunate Mary and that it was done by the same Miracle of Grace as we daily see Nature produce Gold and Diamonds out of stony and craggy Mountains and Sweet Juices out of Bitter Roots I added by way of Consolation of her Afflicted Piety that perhaps the Father of so many Tears aud Sighs would not be lost in Heaven Whose chiefest Glory it was to have begot MARY and from whom she received her Being while he on the other side receiv'd from his Daughter the benefit and aid of her Prayers then which there is nothing of greater force to expugn the Clemency of Heaven and a useful Pattern of Grace which she every day set before his Eyes And indeed whatever there was of Great that rais'd our Heroess above all the Queens of all Former Ages whatever the English almost ador'd in her what the Batavian lov'd the German honour'd the Switzer reverenc'd and the girning and reluctant French admir'd Fame has also so loudly proclaim'd to the utmost Limits of the Hyperborean Eastern and Western World that she can never be said to have celebrated the fame of any other Woman as she has sounded forth in Praise of this Princess And all this we must certainly conclude was ne're infus'd into her by any Human but by a Divine an Immortal Operation In the first place that most Sweet and Holy Name of MARY consecrated from the very Birth of Grace it self was a most Auspicious Augury of the Future Salvation Restoration and Security of Britain And it was as fortunate in Ours as it was Ominous and Fatal in Four Former MARYS of England Scotland France and lastly of Italy whose Fame Religion trampl'd under foot the Sacred Worship of God prophan'd Laws violated Halters Slaughter-Houses Racks Funeral Piles and Flaming Busts and lately the Church it self upon the brink of Ruin and groaning under most oppressive Servitude proclaim far and near In like manner as the mournful Annals of the Church declare both the Substance and the Omen to have fail'd under former Christian Governments in the Fausta's Eudoxia's Honoria's Eusebias Theodora's Irene's Specious indeed but empty Names of Christian Queens in former Ages And therefore Britain that had been ruin'd by MARIES was at

A Funeral Oration ON THE Most High Most Excellent and Most Potent PRINCESS MARIE STUART QUEEN OF England Scotland France and Ireland c. Recited by the Learned Author of The Collection of Canons and New Pieces In his Third Tome pag. 274. Done into English from the French Original Printed at the Hague LONDON Printed for J. Dunton at the Raven in Jewen-street and Sold by Edmund Richardson near the Poultry-Church 1695. A Funeral Oration c. Favour is Deceitful and Beauty is Vain but a Woman that feareth the Lord she shall be Praised Prov. chap. 31. v. 30. WE cannot but wonder and be sensible of the works which Nature sets before our Eyes but on the other side we must acknowledge that those Objects so lovely and worthy of our Admiration are subject to Corruption and that they fade away and Perish All things that are under the Sun shall Perish and there is no longer any memory of things that are past and those things that are to come shall be forgotten by those that come after us sayes Solomon in the Ecclesiastes Those Empires formerly so Vast and Potent what are now become of ' em The mighty Men and Potentates of the Earth after they have made a noise in the World for Fifty or Threescore Years at most whether do they retire What is become of all their Grandeur and Luster They are returned into the Earth from whence they came and by a fatal necessity they instruct us that All that is no more then Dust must return to Dust The Days of Man sayes David are like the Flower of the Field which in the Morning is clad with a Thousand lively Colours but no sooner is it cropt but it Fades and Withers nor is there the least Beauty of it to be discovered by the Evening This is the fate of the things of this World 'T is then upon the meditation of their Vanity that they ought to reflect 'T is to the Consideration of Eternal Blessings that we ought to apply our selves to the end we may learn so to govern our days that we may be said to have a Heart of Wisdom and Understanding The fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom A good Understanding have all they that do his Commandments His Praise endureth for ever Psalm 3. Favour is Deceitful and Beauty is Vain but the Woman that feareth the Lord she shall be Praised It may be justly said that never any Person merited this Praise more then the Most High Most Excellent and Most Potent Princess MARY STUART Queen of England Scotland France and Ireland My Design is therefore to endeavour to set before your Eyes the surpassing Virtues of this great Queen not only to excite your Admiration of that Piety that Greatness of Soul that prudent Conduct which she made appear in all her Actions and in all her Words but more especially to follow the Examples of Piety and Sanctity of which we have been some part of Us the Eye-witnesses during her Life and which she left us after her Death I must acknowledge my self altogether unable to undertake a task so far above my strength only my Zeal for the Memory of this great Princess and the great desire I had that we should make the best benefit of a Life and Death so Holy and so Pretious in the sight of God has engag'd me in despite of my self and caus'd me to forget my weakness in going beyond the limits of my Character Think it not then strange if I observe not in this discourse all the Methods and all the Rules of Art Consider that there is something I know not what of Irregular in Sorrow and Affliction and that it is not so much the work of my Wit as of my Heart it being out of the abundance of my Heart that my Mouth speaketh Most Holy and Divine Spirit who didst enliven this Pious Queen enliv'n me now with a sacred Fire to the end I may render serviceable to thy Glory the Holy Examples which he hath given us and that by the imitation thereof we may become more Prudent and more Pious Never fear it 't is not here my design according to the Idea's of the Worldly Eloquence to study for flattering Discourses to give in this place false Phrases to false Virtues When we have for the subject matter of such discourses any one of those common and Worldly Lives in whom we can find nothing to commend but the last motives of a long delay'd and almost fruitless Repentance it is a difficult thing I must confess if I may not say impossible but that we must flatter Vanity and confound Fortune with Virtue But here all our trouble will be that we shall not be able to find Elogies enow to set forth so many Virtues nor Terms strong enough to express so many admirable Qualities wherewith Nature and Grace seem'd to be at strife to accomplish this most incomparable Queen What a Majesty and Grandeur in her Aire What a sweetness What a modesty in her Counnance What a politeness in all her Manners What Charming Graces in her Person And these you know were the least things to be commended in her For if we pass to the qualities of her Soul what a large Field was there for Elegies or rather what a subject of wonder and admiration In the first Years of her Youth this Princess displaid the best Natural disposition in the World a sweet Humour agreeable and always equall a Heart upright and sincere a solid and firm Judgment and a Piety beyond her Age. And it was upon this sincere report that the great Prince who espous'd her desired to be united to her declaring That all the circumstances of Fortune and Interest did never engage him so much as those of her Person and particularly those of her Humour and Inclination A sentiment truly great generous prudent and Christian-like and so much the more noble and worthy to be observ'd as being rare in great Personages who regulate their Friendships only according to their Interests and have neither so much Christianity nor niceness as to consider that it is Virtue which produces and cherishes Friendship and that when a Man is really a Man of worth he can never be too attentive in making choice of the Person to whom he is to be ty'd all the Days of his life However this was the Care of the great Prince who espous'd her and as his intentions were pure and upright God heard his Prayers and his Wishes in giving him for a Consort I will say not only the most amiable and most accomplish'd Princess of Europe but the most perfect of all Women that ever were in the World Of whom we m●y say that all Virtues were assembled together in her without any mixture of Vices And in saying so I say no more then what was the publick and unanimous Voice of all People and of this Princess it is that we may justly say what is said in the Proverbs Many

return'd Thanks to their Queen upon that occasion and openly and publickly express'd the sentiments of their Hearts in words at large So that the English were hardly sensible of the absence of their King nor nor was there any thing which they wanted but only the Person of the King Thus for several Years this Royal Heroess held a Divided Empire between her Royal Husband and her self She rul'd England while William govern'd Belgium till toward the end of the preceeding Year she began to sink under the first Assaults of a Terrrible Disease which tho it slacken'd at the Beginning afterwards every Day prevailing more and more and the fatal hour approaching after she had bid adieu to Royal Pomp and all Earthly Affairs she betook her self to pious meditations plac'd her only hopes in God alone and to him commended her soul In the mean time together with several others of the same Order the Pious and most Reverend Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Tennison visited her who observing how dangerously ill she was and for that Reason with pious and wholsome Exhortations putting her in mind in her approaching End with an undaunted Countenance she return'd him this masculine and truly royal expression I am not now to prepare for Death it has been my study all the days of my Life Then the Archbishop gave her the Memorial of the Divine Body the Sacrament of our Militia Which having received after she had given her last and never to be repeated Embraces to her most Dear Husband she compos'd her self altogether to die and between the sixth and seventh of January about midnight in the Royal Palace of Kensington piously and placidly expiring surrender'd her chast soul to God as became so Devout a Princess Oh Black and Dismal Night O horrid Day that followed and blacker than the Night it self Fallacious Hopes and Vain Cogitations even of Kings themselves The Hero sooty with the Dust and Smoak of War and tyr'd with the Labours of a Tedious Campaign delighted in the Embraces of his Beloved Consort and thought to have wasted the Winter Hours in her Society But his Wishes were disappointed Instead of Joy he meets with Sorrow Mourning instead of Applause and finds a Funeral where he thought to have met a Wife His otherwise Invincible Courage gives way to Raging Grief and he who had so often contemn'd the Bullets and Swords of his Enemies he who dreaded neither Flames nor Steel nor Death it self Languishes Falls and Swoons away upon the Death of his Dearest Queen He remembers himself to be but a King finds himself a Man and not unwilling acknowledges the Excess of his Grief Miserable man that I am said he I have lost the best of Women and the most pleasing Companion of my Life Nor was that so much the Exposing of Love as of Truth it self For all that knew her acknowledg this Queen to have been the best and most Excellent of Women endu'd with all Royal and Christian Virtues and Adorn'd with all the Graces both of Body and Mind And altho these Blessings of the Mind are really solid and sempiternal Blessings far to be prefer'd before the Perfections of the Body yet Vertue shines more Beautifully and more pleasingly insinuates it self into us from a Graceful and Beautiful Body after a manner not to be express'd Which if it be true in private Persons how much more in Princes in whom that Excellency and Grace of Body charms and adds to the Allurements of Dignity by unknown and secret Insinuations For seeing that the most Beautiful Workmanship of God is Man and the more excellent part of Man is the Mind how rare a thing and how transcendent is it to carry a beautiful Mind in a beautiful Structure of Body and to how few Mortals doth that perfection happen But in the Queen both these Perfections were Eminent For she had a structure of Body to Admiration Taller than usual well shap'd well proportion'd and Majestick Correspondent to her Body was her Face becomming Empire and Command A radiant Beauty overspead her Countenance and the Concomitants of Beauty Grace a Royal Majesty and a certain severity temper'd with a mild serenity You might know her to be a Queen by her Aspect But a much nobler guest Inhabited this Domicil a mind more Lovely than her Body from whence as from a perpetual Fountain and a certain unexhausted Spring all other both Royal and Christian Vertues exuberantly Flow'd which how many how transcendent and Illustrious they were their Enumeration and Contemplation will make manifest In the first place How extraordinary was her understanding and her insight into all Affairs How quick and smart her judgment in discerning How great her Memory in retaining With what a Fortitude endow'd in undertaking With what a Resolution to Execute What an Elevation of mind On the other side how Mild how Gentle how Clement how Courteous How Affable How Good and what an inbred and natural Benignity towards all Men How Prudent and Wise in administring the Affairs of the Kingdom How severe and just in the determination of Differences In the Distribution of Punishments and Rewards How munificent and liberal to the Poor How singularly modest How frugal and temperate in the midst of the Temptations of Life and in the Pleasures of a Court That hardly ever any private Person less indulg'd her self than a Princess advanced to such an Illustrious Station of Honour and Dignity But nothing was more Illustrious in her nothing more commendable or more deserving Admiration and Encomium among so many and so great Vertues than that primary and above all transcending Vertue real and sincere Piety which the wisest of Kings adjudg'd to be the beginning of all Wisdom There was nothing which she esteem'd more Religiously incumbent upon her than to serve the Immortal God and be assiduous in his Worship to defend maintain and propagate with all the Force of her Kingdom the true Religion purg'd and purified from Idols and Superstition Nor was it her Opinion that piety consisted in the Lips but in the Heart not in subtil Disputes but in good Works not in the Knowledg but the Observation of Precepts and in the Cordial Performance of enjoyn'd Duties Nor was it her choice with the Athenians rather to know than do that which was right but with the Antient Cato tho more truly than he rather to be good than to seem so In the morning she rose with the Sun and Worship'd the Lord of Heaven and Earth But when she was sometimes forc'd to rise at midnight by reason of the Urgent Affairs of the State and could not afterwards sleep she commanded either the Holy Scripture or some other Pious Book to be brought her If any persons came to Visit her in a morning before she had pour'd forth her Prayers she sent 'em back with this Expression That she was first to serve the King of Kings If any persons were said to seek her Life by Treachery and Conspiracy her Answer

and suppress'd and extinguish'd Conspiracies enter'd into by a new sort of Catilines She muster'd the Land Armies and view'd the Fleets and took care that nothing should be wanting in either that might be useful either to stop or invade the Enemy or relieve and assist her own For this Tranquility of the Times for this same singular Providence and Vertue did she not more truly then any Princess before her deserve the Appellations of Augnst of Parent of her Country of Best Mother and Mother of the Martial Camps This every year she labour'd to see accomplish'd to the end the King might recross the Seas in his Military Ornaments the Key of the Kingdom being deliver'd to the Queen till towards the end of last Autumn after an Expedition ended upon the Borders of France he hasten'd to the Embraces of his Royal Consort and to provide for those things which were to be consulted in Parliament for the raising of Money towards the supplies of the Armies and Fleets The King took Shipping put to Sea and with a prosperous Wind arriv'd in England where he had no sooner set his Foot ashoar but the loud acclamations of the People were heard in all quarters of the British Dominions Long flourish Great Britain long live our Country long live King William And not long after her Majesty meeting the King all along upon the Road these lucky Omens and transcending Applauses fill'd the Sky Vnder the Protection of our King and Queen we live under their Protection we Navigate and Trade under their Protection we enjay our Fortunes and our Liberties Then most August Monarch should any one from among those vast congratulating and triumphing Multitudes have shew'd himself and presag'd that those Rejoycings were but the Fore-runners of Grief and would be soon defil'd by some signal Calamity impending on the Royal Family would he not have been deservedly lookt upon as some impertinent Enthusiastick So ignorant are human Minds of future Chance and Fate Such Sacrifices and Attonements as these the Omnipotent has prescrib'd to vaunting Mortals and ordain'd it as a Law that the greatest Inconstancy should rule their Affairs the Prosperity of which no Man could ever so assuredly promise himself as to depend upon a Fortunate Course of his Life without some intermixture of Adversity Thus it fell out that when the toilsome Labours of the Camp had recall'd the King to Rest and Pastime a mournful Calamity shook and oppress'd his generous Soul still wakeful over the safety of his Kingdoms where all succeeded according to his Mind and no less vigilent for the Common Good of the Belgians who conceiv'd in their Minds a lucky Omen of succeess from the more early then usual tho' ardently wish'd for return of their renown'd General For upon the third of January 1694-95 The Queen was seiz'd with a slight shivering but which threatned nothing of danger to her Life the Physicians giving hope of Relief and Cure believing this Royal Fortress might be defended by their Hands But upon the sixth of January the Fever gathering Strength and reinforcing its Virulency and the small-Pox a Contagion generally incident to Youth appearing but not kindly coming forth tho' all help and remedies were apply'd that human Experience has invented against the violence of that distemper it was in vain at length for all the Art of Physick to contend for the Disease immediately seiz'd upon the Queen with such a pernicious force as vanquish'd all the aid of Man All the while the King refus'd to stir from the Languishing Queen's Bedside assiduous to serve her and careless of the Infection that many times accompanies that Malady and being often requested to spare his Royal Person and not to inflict another Wound upon suffering Europe made Answer That when he Marry'd the Queen he Convenanted to be the Companion not only of her Prosperity but of whatever Fortune befel her and that he would with the hazard of his Life receive from her Lips her last expiring Gasps Felices ter amplius Quos Irrupta tenet Copula nec Malis Divulsus querimoniis Suprema citius solvet Amor Dic. All hope of Recovery now was fled away and the most Reverend Father in God the Archbishop of Canterbury being admitted into the Room in order to perform the last Duties of his Function told her Majesty that the fatal hour was at hand that the Forces of her Body being weaken'd and broken Death was making his Approaches and therefore she had nothing more to do but to submit herself to the Pleasure of the Almighty Such a harsh and disconsolate Message would have struck another Person tho' long exercis'd and harden'd in Stoical Indolency with Horror and Trembling But what said the Queen to this Full of Faith and Constancy she receiv'd the tidings with a chearful and undaunted Countenance saying withal That she did no way seek to shun the the stroke of Death but was ready prepar'd for the Dark Mansion of the Grave for that she had always so led her Life that whenever Death gave her his last Summons she should be a gainer by it Having thns spoken without the least emotion of Mind she receiv'd the certain Pledges of Divine Peace and ineffable Consolation to allay the Thirst and Hunger of her Soul deliver'd her by the Most Reverend Father at the same time with most ardent Wishes and pious Ejaculations calling upon her Redeemer nail'd to the Cross This last and most mournful Act remain'd and then the King oppress'd and bowing under the Burden of his own Sorrows e're death had quite benumm'd her trembling Arteries and the warm Vapour of Breath lay panting in her sacred Breast bid her Eternally farewell Which last demonstrations and evident signs of the most tender motions of the Soul were perform'd with that Sincerity of a Cordial Passion that you may readily most Learned Auditors conjecture the Anguish of such a doleful Parting though my Oration my bow being enfeebled with Sadness cannot reach the perfect Description At length my words stick fast upon my Tongue At length I say upon the seventh day of the Ides of January about twelve a Clock at Noon the Blessed Queen resign'd her pure Soul to God with a most placid Exit not having fully accomplish'd the thirty third year of her Age and consequently in the flower of her Years This was the End of a Queen in whom not only Piety Benignity and Humanity but all Vertues seem to be ecclips'd Oh cruel Fate Oh untimely Death Timely I should have said my Accompt fail'd me For if we measure the Course of the Queen's Life circumscrib'd by Years at first sight it appears to be very much streightned and very short But if we look farther we shall find it to be a long and immense Race of Glory One day of a Wise Man says Possidonius is more extensive then the whole Age of an ignorant Person That same Alexander whose Atchievements acquir'd him the name of Great Germanicus Caesar endu'd

by his Agent 's Letters the Father sends a long and weighty Epistle to his Daughter wherein he set forth at large the occasion the reasons and methods he had followed in abandoning our Worship and embracing the Opinions of Rome This Letter from King James was delivered to MARY upon Tuesday in the Evening the Messengers who brought it being to return into England the next day Wherefore when she had read it over and over again with extraordinary attention and Studiously considered every thing she set her self to return an Answer wherein she spent the greatest part of the Night And tho frequently put in mind that it was time to go to Bed and that it behov'd her to take care of her Health which would be much disorder'd by Watching the most Prudent Queen made Answer That the Duty of Answering the King's Letters was to be preferr'd before Sleep lest she should be straitned in time the next day and thereby be hindred from performing what she ow'd to her Father That therefore she made the more haste lest if the Messenger should slip away vvithout her Ansvver it might be suspected that she had made use of help and got some Divine to vvrite her Letters for her vvhich if her Father should believe they vvould vvant that vveight and Effect vvhich by the Favour of God she promised her self from dispatching 'em vvith all speed she could The King 's chief Argument was taken from the Antiquity and the long and immovable endurance of the Roman Church Establish'd and Founded upon the Promises of Christ Thou art Peter c. To which were added other places Arguments and Testimonies heaped together to corroborate that Opinion All which the most ingenious Princess Answered and refuted in so short a time and with so much Politeness and Judgment that an Eminent Divine and some few other Persons conspicuous for their Quality and Integrity who afterwards were permitted to see a Copy of that Epistle ravish'd into Admiration asserted that they could never have perswaded themselves that such a Letter so full of Grave and Efficacious Arguments could have been Written by any Man much less by a Woman unless by one who had Devoted his whole Life to the Study of the Scriptures and true Divinity Strange swiftness and perspicacity of a Divine Wit Strange piercing Force of Judgment No snares of Treachery were so occultly laid which the August Queen did not readily discover no Sophisms so fallaciously specious that could deceive Her No knots so difficult but she should unloose 'em at first sight Go now you that are all over nothing but Envy or ill Will you that are blinded by your own ignorance weigh the vast Endowments of the Greatest of Queens by the Exilities of your own slender Parts go now and taunt me with Adulation This Oration is so far from flattery that all men now may see that the greatest applause of Words is far inferior to the Merits of so great a Queen Such was also the sanctity of MARY'S Life that King WILLIAM after her Decease calling to mind her Piety toward God the Integrity of her Life and her Extraordinary Knowledge of sacred things brake forth into this Evpression That if he could believe that ever any mortal man could be born without the contamination of sin he would believe it of the Queen And she preserv'd her self so chast and spotless that while she resided upon Earth she liv'd the Life of the Saints even in the hurry of the Court where there are so many incitements to evil that entice men from the Exercise of Piety so many allurements to pleasure that inveigle and bewitch the mind But as our Divine MARY burn'd with a singular Love of Piety and Religion so was she of a Soaring and Exalted Mind For they who addicting themselves to the Observance of the most pure Religion are once assur'd that being as it were encompass'd with Coelestial Protection they shall not be forsaken will never despond let the Confusions of War Rage round about 'em let the Earth Tremble and Heaven be ready to fall and all things menace present Mortality and Pestilence As to her Contempt of Humane Glory her Constancy in the most violent Storms of Adverse Fortune I wish as they are great things and Aggravations of her lofty Soul I wish it were in my power to set forth in as magnificent Language The Field is infinitely large of rare and unusual Examples but neither the barrenness of a slender Wit nor the straitness of my Time will permit me to expatiate into these Boundless Themes We must be content with a Few How great was the Consternation of all men how general the Dismay and Terror when William Prince of Orange not so much Invited and Requested by England tho she stretched forth her suppliant Hands to Him for succour as by the Call of Heaven at an unseasonable time when both Seas and Adverse Winds with tumultuous Fury opposing him with such an handful hasten'd to England's Relief under the Oppression of Numerous Armies I believe that most of you remember For we may sooner forget our selves than such a dreadful season Only MARY undaunted awaited the Event of Heaven's Decrees She Only wanted no Consolation She alone exhorted and confirm'd the Trembling Womanish Fear in Men in MARY Manly Resolution and Courage vvas to be seen These vvere Noble Things and to be celebrated vvith the Encomiums of all Ages and all Men. And yet they are but Sport and Play if I may so call 'em to vvhat you shall now hear An Hideous Bulk of threatning Evils at the same time roul'd vvith all its Force to overwhelm all England and Holland The Heaven the Sea and Land seem'd to have conspired their ruin and destruction The Army of the Confederates had received a deep wound in the Battle of Fleurus In the sight of England a misfortune befel our Fleet some of our Men of War being sunk and burnt whilst others were detain'd by contrary Winds from succouring those that were o're Powred From Ireland News was brought tho ours had Vanquish'd the Rebels at the Boyn that the King was Wounded in the heat of the Fight with a Canon Bullet The Report was spread abroad that he was slain insomuch that publick Rejoycings were ordered at Paris by publick Authority in a Tempestuous Night and all the Streets and Houses Blaz'd and Shon with Illuminations and Bonfires the signs I will not determine whether of Joy or Madness not to be defac'd by length of Time as if the VVar had been at an end had the King of England been Dead All these things were at the same time tumultuously repeated while Fame augmented as is usual every thing for the worse To this we may add how certainly it was believed that the French Fleet were preparing to Land a great Army in England which was to penetrate into the Heart of the Kingdom naked then of Military Defence the Souldie●y being either in Ireland or the Low

Countries 'T is hardly to be imagin'd how great the Fear the Dread the Consternation was of the Nobility Gentry and common People Still the Queen displayed no sign of Fear nothing of dubious anxiety nothing of sadness either in her looks or words more Especially when she heard that the Wound in the King's shoulder was neither Mortal nor Dangerous MARY at that time Rode through the City of London with so Serene a Countenance that Tranquillity and Security seem'd to shine in her Eyes The People beholding the Queen so void of any Perturbation repented and recovered themselves from their extraordinary Consternation Nor were the People only refreshd and revived with chearful Hearts and Countenances but also the Nobility the King and Queen's Friends and sharers of all their Arcana For when the Queen shewed the same mind in Council no less sedate and Void of Tumult so soon as she was gone a person of the Highest Quality and Dignity acknowledg'd that after he had seen and heard the Queen he was much more Confirm'd in his Mind than before That so many Messengers of ill News from all parts one upon the Neek of another had strook a dread into him and a very great fear of more terrible Calamities but that now he was releast from his Fears in regard that neither in the Queen's Countenance nor in her Words he perceived not the least sign of any Perturbation or Anxiety but that she still consulted for the general Good with the same constancy as before that with the same Advice and Judgment she took care that nothing should fall out amiss at Home that the publick should receive no damage and provided abroad how Miscarriages might be attoned losses repaired and the Counsels of the Enemy be disappointed These things when he saw he could not sufficiently Admire the Incredible Fortitude of the Queen nor could he believe the loss was so great or Affairs in so ill a Condition as they were generally thought to be What an Illustrious Person so much admir'd all Nations all Posterity will wonder at That there was so much Resolution in a Woman that she could not be dejected by the severest Frowns of adverse Fortune that would have shaken and did shake the Courage and Counsels of Men themselves Octavianus Caesar when he heard of the Varian Slaughter foolishly suffered his Hair and Beard to grow as if the Germans had been afraid of his careless Beard like men that are terrified with the streaming Tail of a Comet He wept like a Woman beat his Head for madness against the Wall and like a man that had been Frantick cry'd out Varus Restore me back my Legions as if these Clamours could have Terrified the Enemy or that the Slain could have thereby reviv'd And this same Despair and Female Imbecillity of Mind the same Augustus betray'd as if Hannibal had been at the Gates of Rome when three Legions were Defeated by the Germans in the utmost Confines of the Roman Empire But what did our Couragious and Prudent Queen do when the Army was Routed in the Adjoyning Low Countries when in the very sight and throat of England the Enemies Navy numerous and Victorious Rode Mistress of the Seas when Rapines Burnings Slaughters Desolation presented themselves before the Eyes of all men if the Enemy which many were afraid of which wicked Subjects boasted abroad and Rebels wish'd had turn'd their Forces against the British Shoar in the King's absence and while the Arms of England were Employ'd either in our Territories or in Ireland Nothing of all these things mov'd MARY's Courage She did not yield to raging Torture or submit her Courage to it but the more boldly made resistance with an undaunted Vertue never to be sufficiently Extoll'd by human Expressions and with such a sublimity of Mind whereby she not only overcame the Opinion of all men but her self out-did her self by which she attained to such a Degree of Glory and Dignity as a Prince of highest Vertue can hardly be allowed to wish for in this Life No less Conspicuous was the Excellency of her lofty Mind in moderat Prosperity as in her Couragious Brooking Adversity She never proudly abused so great a Power never in that most Towering Station of Human Affairs utter'd an haughty word or did an unequal Act. For it was always her Opinion that Royal Majesty consisted not in the Ensigns of Royalty the Globe the Scepter or the Crown but in Vertuous Ornaments in Gentleness and the Power of doing Good to all People and was desirous it should be conspicuous for Sanctity and Sweetness of Manners and Nobleness of Mind not in swelling Pride in haughty Pride and intollerable disdain of her Subjects and of all other Men with the Cecropide arrogated to themselves and Men of mean Condition advanc'd above themselves to splendidness of Fortune Nor did the Queen more laudably excel in Majesty of Empire than in Modesty of which how many Examples did she shew to the World But this was most singular and wonderful She was call'd by the People of England together with her Husband William to be his Associate in the Kingdom that as she was the Confort of his Bed she might be the Companion of his Scepter and that they might Administer the Government with equal Auspices This Power she never exercised unless when the King in Vindicating and Asserting the Liberty of the Christian World was thundering with Arms abroad upon the Meuse the Scheld or the Boyne and going to cross the Seas committed the Reines of the Kingdom into her Right-hand which she rul'd so prudently with the general Applause of all Men in the most difficult times that none of her Subjects could perceive the King was absent The King was wanting in his Person no body miss'd his Courage or his Prudence In Council when Affairs of greatest Moment and Intricacy were Discuss'd the most prudent Queen ne're hesitated never was at a stand such was her Diligence such her Discernment so Capacious was her Counsel that she saw with a most piercing Eye what was needful to be done and readily found out the Expedient which way things were to be accomplish'd For she had a Wise prospect into Futurity that she might be thought to Prophesy rather than Pronounce Decrees and Judg'd so truly of this present that she might be thought to have deriv'd every sentence she spoke from some Oracular Answer of a Deity So that the King might deservedly complain when he lost our most Prudent MARY that he had lost the best of all the Counsellors he had in his Council You have heard a most true saying of great WILLIAM who himself as well in Military Courage as in the Wisdom of Peace is second to none of all the Kings that are or ever were He could never perform such great things abroad unless he had those at home upon whose Fidelity and Counsel he might rely For never at any time more certain Ship-wrack threatens a Common-wealth than when such a

was she Who ever knew a Wife more Obedient in a private Family I here forbear to relate with what an Excess of Grief she parted from her William's side when setting forward and ready to quit the English Shoar in order to restore the Low Condition of Europe's Affairs I neglect to tell with how much Joy and Affection she received the King returning from the Conquest of Ireland These are the vulgar Commendations of all Wives but what I shall now commemorate is a singular and most Illustrious Pledg of a certain more than wonderful Affection When King James confiding in an hasty Flight deserted the Kingdom and left the Royal Throne quite Empty and in a manner falling it was Debated in the Convention who should be set up in James's Room whether the Ensigns of Soveraignty should be Offered to the Prince of Orange and Mary his Consort to Reign with Equal Power or to Mary only the Eldest Daughter of James and in her Right to William her Husband Many were of the last Opinion but upon this Condition that Mary should be Crown'd Queens but that the Administration of the Government should by Authority of Parliament be committed to Prince William as Mary's Husband The Resident of a Certain Prince who then Resided in England so soon as he understood these things though but uncertainly reported over-hasty and credulous as if the Thing had been already determined presently hires a Messenger and orders him with all the speed imaginable to carry the News to his Master that MARY the Eldest Daughter of King James was by Decree of Parliament to be the next day Proclaim'd Queen of England The Messenger was to pass through the Hague and to impart the News in the Residents Name to a Person of High Authority and no less high both in William and Mary's Esteem He immediately hastens to the Court and informs Mary of this Vote of the House and congratulates her Advancement to the Royal Dignity She according to her wonted Good Nature mildly indeed but with a less familiar Countenance and a more contracted Brow made Answer That she neither hop'd those things to be true which he related neither did she believe that William would accept the Kingdom as a Substitute to Female Authority or as one that was to be beholden to a Woman for a Crown I beseech ye Noble Auditors could the best of Princesses declare the Excess of her most tender Affection by a more Illustrious Argument She had rather that her self she had rather that her Husband should lose a Kingdom than permit that he should receive it as her Gift or that William should obtain by Female Favour what he had deserv'd by the suffrage of his own Valour as having undergone so many Toyls and Dangers for the Preservation of it Hence when some Peers of the highest Rank who wish'd well to MARY obstinately urg'd That the Kingdom should be decreed to William upon no other Conditions than those already mentioned and asserted that it would be a means to fix themselves in MARY's Favonr She took it so unkindly and after she was Crown'd Queen openly complain'd of their Preposterous Argument nor would for a good while admit those who had Voted after that manner to kiss her Royal Hand nor did admit 'em till after some time that she was at last over-rul'd by the King What could be done more Lovingly or what greater Testimony of Affection could Fiction invent By what greater Argument could she demonstrate that nothing was dearer to her than her Husband Neither Scepter nor Crown for the sake of which many Women abjure their Chastity their Religion all Veneration Divine and Human if separated from King William's Interests which she always prefer'd before her own Oh singular Conjugal Fidelity O admirable Affection of a Queen that never can be too highly Applauded Infinite are the Examples of this her wonderful and incredible Affection toward the King which we have not Language nor time sufficient to Enumerate However one in the midst of so much Plenty most Illustrious must not be omitted In the Eeighty fourth year of this Age the Embassador of a certain King not necessary here to be Nam'd Plotted an unworthy Contrivance at the Hague and had Sollicited certain of the Prince of Orange's Attendants to Associate with him which come to Light so highly Incens'd a Prince at other times so mild and gentle as to incur a Censure of being slow that he could not dissemble his Anger The King recall'd his Embassadour from the Hague no doubt inform'd of the Just reason of the Prince's Indignation against him The Embassadour therefore knowing that Kings and Princes have long hands was willing before his departure to reconcile himself to Prince William To which purpose making his Addresses and submissively and with humble Protestations of his Innocency and Deprecating his Offences the most Mild of Princes Magnanimously forgave him But from Mary by no Allegations by no Expiations of Satisfaction whatever could he obtain his Pardon Upon which when it was admir'd that Mary should be so implacable when the Embassadour had done nothing against Her nor had injur'd Her either in word or deed when William Justly offended had pardon'd the Delinquent she order'd this Answer to be made That had the Crime been committed against her she would not have been either severe or inexorable but that she could not forget an Attempt against her Husband nor grant her Pardon so easily to him who had so highly offended William Who can sufficiently extol this Conjugal Fidelity this unusual Affection of a Queen toward a Husband For my part I am not able to Admire it as I ought to do Nor was the Queen belov'd with less Affection by the King than was the King belov'd by Her There was no need of falling out to renew their Love but such was the Harmonious agreement of their Minds and Counsels from the first day of their Auspicious Marriage that their Wills were still the same whatever pleas'd whatever dislik'd the one always dislik'd still pleas'd the other such an Agreement of Opinions in all things both private and publick that tho in Persons divided by long Intervals of distant Leagues yet by an unaccountable Sympathy they were always of one mind in all Affairs most difficult and of dubious Event which would have puzled the most acute and experienc'd Politicians So that they might be said to be Born under one Constellation but rather that one Soul resided in two Bodies And that you may not think I speak a Fiction behold an Example of a reall Harmony of Minds almost beyond belief About three years ago at what time the King arriv'd in Holland Intelligence was sent from no mean Hands nor from one place to the King here present to the Queen in England then sitting at the Helm that the French were fitting out a Navy and that they intended in a short time to put to Sea with a design to Land a considerable Army in

England and with all their Might to endeavour the Restoration of King James to the Crown that he himself had thrown away The King considering the Danger was in deep suspence for some time whether he should return back into England or stay in the Low Countries to curb the Fury and disappoint the Counsels of the Enemy The first was advis'd by many who were of the King 's more secret Counsels in England and not a few of the Officers here about the King were of the same Opinion In this same Commotion of his Fluctuating Thoughts after an anxious deliberation the King at length decreed That the Yachts that wafted him hither should be sent back into England but that the Men of War that guarded him should be so disposed of that if need required he might be speedily conveigh'd back into England Whither he also sent word that Forty of the Men of War with the Admiral should steer away toward the Coast of France with this Design that if they found an Opportunity they should burn all the Enemies Transport-Ships But before the Yachts and the Messenger who was sent with the King 's Expresses arriv'd in England the Queens Letters were brought hither to the King giving him an Account That she had ordered a Fleet of Forty Men of War to sail away for the Coast of France and burn the Enemies Ships which were reported to be design'd to infest the English Shoar What Symphony could produce a more harmonious Harmony of Notes then this of the Opinions and Counsels of the King and Queen when the one knew nothing of the others Mind Insomuch that similitude of Manners and consent of Minds not Fortune seem'd to have joyn'd William and Mary together This is that true Love that so conglutinates and knits both Hearts together that nothing can be more closely join'd not to be sever'd by any distance of Time or Place and constitutes such a concord of Opinions that no force is able to dissolve Which who sees not in the King and Queen and being seen does not admire must needs be blind and ignorant of what is to be wondred at Therefore in all varieties of Times and Fortunes the King still found the greatest safety in the Love of the best of Queens It was a Saying of the King before he thought of Marriage to Charles the Second's Embassador at a time when there happen'd an accidental discourse about the choice of Wives that of all the Qualities to be sought for in a Wife his first care should be to find out the Best-Condition'd And he himself made himself the Master of his Wish for he could not have found a better Wife had the Sun it self according the Proverb been to have sought her out But as the King met with his chief help and assistance in the Queen's Love so not only her Subjects but all others for whom it was in her Power to do good found more than ordinary Succour in her bountiful Nature She thought the Day lost wherein she had not an opportunity to do good to several She measur'd her Felicity in that indulgent Height of Fortune by nothing more than by her Power to render others happy Yet was she not profuse nor did she scatter her Benefits promiscuously without Judgment or diligent Enquiry but gave plentifully gave considerately gave to fitting Objects She took more Pleasure if she had plac'd her Charity right than if Princes had heap'd upon her self all manner of Benefits and more rejoyc'd in bestowing than they who wanted in receiving She never forgot those Benefits which she receiv'd from others but still recalling 'em to Mind never suffer'd to slip out of her Memory What she bestow'd upon others she scarce remember'd as if she had lost her Memory I wish I could find Words to set forth the flowing Liberality of the most Pious Queen and were able so loudly to proclaim it and in such Language as that it might be heard in all Places Sparing to herself profuse to the miserable and wanting who believ'd that she herself enjoy'd what they receiv'd from her How many experienc'd the Bounty of her Munificent and Liberal Hand as well in England as in Germany the Low-Countries Piedmont but more especially the French Exiles who rather chose to lose their Estates than to hazard the loss of their Souls And the Splendor of this Benevolence shin'd forth in Mary's first coming into this Country For the Prince of Orange so soon as Mary became his Consort order'd such a sum of Money to be paid her for the necessary Expences of her Apparel and Princely Ornaments What did the Divine Princess do with it at those Years She did not stifle the Money in close and dark Chests nor did she lavish it out in gorgeous Attire upon Pearls and Gemms which other Women far distant from her degree are so mad after that they never cease this Fury till they have quite ruin'd their Husband's Patrimonies But moderate in her layings out considering the Grandeur of her Fortune upon her Apparel and other Ornaments which the Dignity of so great a Princess requir'd she introduc'd into the Court Diligence Frugality Parsimony Vertues most commonly unknown in Courts The rest of that large Allowance she consum'd in relieving the distresses of honest and worthy People who labour'd under great Necessities not through their own Extravagancy but reduc'd thereto by Misfortune and the hardness of the Times Magnanimous Queen superiour to all Applause For who is able deservedly to extol the Excellency of so bountiful and beneficent a Soul Where is the Woman among Ten Thousand that would deprive herself of the Money allow'd her for fine Cloaths and gaudy Ornaments to bestow upon the poor and needy while so few are contented with wearing the spoils of fair Estates upon their Backs and think all mis-spent that is not wasted upon Vanity and Finery But alas to compare the Queen with other Women is to do an Injury to her Divine Vertues wherein she equall'd or exceeded the Praises of the Greatest Men. Nor did she expect or desire any other Fruit from this her Bounty than a Conscience that told her she did well She never vaunted her Charity nor imputed it to Merit Most commonly she sent her Charity by Persons unknown who were not permitted to discover the Doner that she might not burden the Modesty of the Receivers So far was she from seeking the Favour of those on whom she conferr'd her Bounty that she deny'd 'em the Hopes of returning thanks when the greatest part were ignorant who bestow'd the unlook'd for Liberality Arcesilaus is highly applauded who laid a bag of Gold under the Pillow of his poor Friend but counterfeiting poverty all the while that he might privately supply the want of one who was needlesly modest Which Praises are not to be attributed to Mary who reliev'd not her Friends but Forreigners and Strangers whom she never saw whose Exigencies she had only heard of contrary to their Expectation