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The third volume opens with the latter portion of the reign of Elizabeth; and there is no one letter, in the whole collection, of a more curious character than that which discloses the innocence of Elizabeth in the execution of Mary. When we say the " innocence," it is not our intention to offer any thing in the shape of extenuation or apology, for the cat-like cruelty of Elizabeth, in keeping her royal captive cooped up in a cage for the heart-withering period of eighteen years; but we think strong grounds are laid for Mr. E.'s opinion, that " Elizabeth was really betrayed by her ministers when the warrant for Mary's execution was carried into effect." The fact is, that Cecil was bent upon the destruction of Mary; and Walsingham was as well disposed towards the measure, although, in most instances, he was awed by the premier. Indeed, from the letter, in a page or two preceding, that from Elizabeth to James VI., in which she protests her innocence of the decapitation of her rival, Burleigh says to Secretary Davison upon the delay of passing sentence upon her:

"We find all persons here in commission fully satisfied, as, by her majesty's order, judgment will be given at our next meeting, but the record will not be provided in five or six days; and that was one cause why, if we should have proceeded to judgment, we should have tarried five or six days more: and surely THE COUNTRY COULD NOT BEAR IT, by the waste of bread specially, our company being there, and within six miles, about 2000 horsemen," &c. p. 12.

What is this, but the language of a man thirsty for the blood of his victim? But we cannot resist the extract of Elizabeth's letter: premising, that we hope soon to see it in readable English, and that when it is considered that the writer was a perfect mistress of the art of state duplicity and persuasion, and that, if to any one, it would be to James that such an avowal of innocence would be made-a doubt may be still entertained respecting the pure and absolute integrity of the confession.

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"LETTER CCXXV.

"Queen Elizabeth to King James the Sixth, disavowing her having caused the Execution of the Queen of Scots.

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"In a Letter which has been already noticed in a preceding page, from the Earl of Leicester to Sir Francis Walsingham after Sir Philip Sydney's death, there is a passage of no small importance to History, upon the expected execution of the Queen of Scots and which seems to present itself as no inappropriate introduction to Elizabeth's disavowal.

"Lord Leicester says 6 there ys a Letter from the Scottish Queen THAT HÁTH WROUGHT TEARS; but I trust shall doe no further herein; albeit the DELAY is TOO DANGEROUS.' This passage coupled with the declaration in the Letter which is now before the reader's eye, gives us ground to hope, if not to believe, that Elizabeth was really betrayed by her Ministers when the warrant for Mary's execution was carried into effect.

"My deare Brother, I would you knewe (though not felt) the extreme dolor that overwhelms my mind, for that miserable accident which (far contrary to my meaninge) hath befalen. I have now sent this kinsman of mine whom ere now yt hath pleased yow to favor, to inetruct yow trewly of that which ys to yerksom for my penne to tell yow. I beseche yow that as God and many moe knowe, how innocent I am in this case: so you will believe me, that yf I had bid i ought I owld have bid by yt. I am not so bace minded that feare of any livinge creature or prince should make me afrayde to do that were just, or don to denye the same. I am not of so base a linage, nor cary so vile a minde. But, as not to disguise, fits not a Kinge, so will I never dissemble my actions, but cawse them shewe even as I ment them. Thus assuringe yourself of me, that as I knowe this was deserved, yet yf I had ment yt I would never laye yt on others shoulders; no more will I not damnifie my selfe, that thought yt not. "The circumstance yt may please yow to have of this bearer. And for your part, thincke yow have not in the World a more lovinge kinswoman, nor a more deare frend then my self; nor any that will watch more carefully to preserve yow and your estate. And who shall otherwise perswade yow, judge them more partiall to others then yow. And thus in hast I leave to troble yow: besechinge God to send yow a longe Reign. The 14th of Feb. 1586'.

Your most assured lovinge sister

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Long as we could linger upon other parts of this volume, and much as we should like to quote a passage from the letter of the "head and fellows of Trinity college, Cambridge, to Lord Burghley, to borrow the robes in the Tower of London, to wear in a tragedy to be acted by them,"-we find it must not be: but as this volume contains many curious particulars relating to James I., the two Charleses, and James II., we are quite sure that it cannot fail to be as acceptable as its companions. There is a letter of " Dudley Lord Carleton to the queen, announcing the assassination of the Duke of Buckingham," from which we give a brief extract: premising (in the language of the editor (of the truth of which it has been our good fortune to have had ocular demonstration) that " the paper, which was found in Felton's hat," and by which he was identified as the assassin of the Duke of Buckingham, is STILL PRESERVED. It was recently found among the Evelyn papers at Wotton in Surry; and is now in the possession of Mr. Upcott, of the London Institution. The pedigree of this singular slip of paper is satisfactorily given by Mr. Ellis. The passage from Lord Carleton's letter to the queen, relating to the assassination of Buckingham, is as follows:

"This day, betwixt nine and ten of the clock in the morning, the Duke of Buckingham, then coming out of a parlour, into a hall, to go to his coach, and so to the king, (who was four miles off) having about him divers lords, colonels, and captains, and many of his own servants, was, by one Felton, (once a lieutenant of this our army) slain at one blow with a dagger knife. In his staggering, he turned about, uttering only this word 'villaine!' and never spake more: but presently, plucking out the knife from himself, before he fell to the ground, he made towards the traitor two or three paces, and then fell against a table, although he were upheld by divers that were near him, that (through the villain's close carriage in the act) could not perceive him hurt at all, but guessed him to be suddenly overswayed with some apoplexy, 'till they saw the blood come gushing from his mouth and the wound so fast, that life and breath at once left his begored body."

We have taken the liberty to modernise the spelling of this very curious description, in order to meet the tastes of the greater number of readers. The last letter, as we have before observed, in this interesting series, is from " the Chevalier St. George to his consort, the Princess Clementina," of the date of 1726. Throughout the entire work, there are brief and apposite notes, historical and biographical, which appear to us to be just what such notes ought to be: neither frivolous, foreign, nor jejune, but illustrative and instructive. We must

conclude, with the repetition of our respect for the manner in which this work is executed, and with the conviction that it will add to the stock of useful knowledge relating to our history. And as the Society of Antiquaries is composed of nearly a thousand members, we will suppose that, as each member possesses a copy, and would be miserable if he did not possess it in its ancient garb, so now there is sufficient encouragement held out to the publisher to bring the work forward in a modernised manner, and to let it, in consequence, have a currency in all the public libraries of the kingdom. For the editor himself, we can assure him most truly, and in common with every man of sense in the country, that his reputation can never be at issue upon the words one, two, or three, being spelt oon, too, or thre, or contrariwise.

If his wish be the public instruction and amusement, he may be assured that the more intelligible his work is made, the more directly his wish will be attained.

Journal of a Ten Months' Residence in New Zealand. By RICHARD A. CRUISE, Esq., Major in the 84th Regiment of Foot. Second Edition. 8vo. Pp. 327. London. Longmans. 1824.

THE islands in that mightiest of waters, the great Southern Ocean, are rapidly rising into importance, and we are gratified by all opportunities of directing the public attention to a quarter of the globe, where one of the most interesting experiments ever made by civilization is succeeding beyond all hope of patriotism and philosophy.

Little more than half a century ago no man in his senses would have hazarded the conjecture that within those inhospitable and remote seas, at the very antipodes of England, great Christian communities would be found, speaking the English language, living by English laws, keeping up a valuable and rapid intercourse with the mother country, and laying the foundation for empires more extensive, more powerful, and more furnished with the arts of civilization and happiness than all the dreams of ancient ambition. Yet all this has been done since the voyage of Cook, in the year 1770.

New Zealand had been discovered above a hundred years before, by Tasman, the Dutchman, in 1642. But offering no direct temptation to commercial cupidity, the discovery was ne

glected by his money-loving republic. Cook was the true discoverer. He sailed round it, ascertained its products, the character of its people, its capabilities of European production, and left but little for future investigation to tell. New Zealand consists of two islands; that on the north six hundred miles by about one hundred and fifty; the southern of not much inferior magnitude. The strait between is scarcely more than fifteen miles across, and the whole lies within less than a thousand miles east of the great British colony and continent of New Holland.

It may be seen from our remarks on Captain Seely's book, in our last Number, that we are not disposed to exercise the severity of critical judgment upon the literary productions of "the gentlemen of the army;" particularly where they feel the laudable desire of contributing to the general stock of public knowledge by the results of their travelled observation. Thrown, as they so frequently are, amongst new and interesting scenes, they can scarcely fail to receive a favourable hearing, if they will be satisfied to describe what they have seen with simple fidelity. The form of a journal, too, seems in every way best calculated for conveying this record. It involves no necessity for elaborate composition; it frees them from the hazard alike of omission and redundancy, from all the perils and pains of authorship. While it imposes no tax upon their wearied intelligence in moments of professional fatigue, the habit of preserving impressions while they are yet warm, must afford a valuable pledge of accuracy and interest to themselves and to their readers. In such employment, the spirit of enquiry will insensibly be sharpened and animated; and the hope of creating future pleasure for the fondly remembered circle at home, will mingle with professional and philosophical objects in accumulating the treasures of foreign wonder. We have only to trace the fortune of the Journal a step farther; to its perusal by partial relatives over the fireside of the returned soldier; and then, after the erasure here and there of a judicious friend-not the spurious alterations and embellishments of the professed book-maker-behold it in the hands of the publisher. And courage to the trembling author, who never trembled before; we will state our warantry upon its fair reception by the critics, if, indeed, as Sir Fretful has it, there be such a quality in the world as honesty in criticism.

Major Cruise has all the claims to our respect and thankful acknowledgement which are due to voyagers of his profession, who think, and these are now, to the honour of our army be it spoken, a numerous class-that there are things better worth

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