were more fpacious and and convenient; provided with larger win dows, and generally had chimnies they were alio more amply ftored with houfhold furniture, and with wooden, and fometimes even earthen utensils.

Still, however, their progrefs towards civilization is very inconfiderable; and many inftances of the groffeft barbarifm fell under our obfervation, during the daily intercourfe we neceffarily maintained with the peasants. One inftance I fhall mention; because it will ferve to fhow into what a wretched state of ignorance the common people are ftill plunged, when even the smallest trace of fuch immoral practices fubfifts amongst them. In many families the father marries his fon, while a boy of feven, eight, or nine years old, to a girl of a more advanced age, in order, as it is faid, to procure an able bodied woman for the domeftick fervice he cohabits with this perfon, now become his daughter-in-law, and frequently has feveral children by her. In my progrefs through Ruffia, I obferved in fome cottages, as it were, two miftreffes of a family, one the peafant's real wife, who was old enough to be his mother, and the other, who was nominally the fon's wife, but in reality, the father's concubine. Thefe incestuous marriages, fanctified by in veterate custom, and permitted by the parish-priefts, were formerly more common than they are at prefent; but as the nation becomes more refined, and the priests fomewhat more enlightened, and as they have lately been discountenanced by government, they are daily falling into difufe; and it is to be hoped, will be no longer tolerated."

From the town of Novogorod, antiently a republic under the jurifdiction of a nominal fovereign, we are led by our traveller to Petersburgh the "object of his wishes and "the termination of his labours;" he fully justifies Peter the Great in transferring the feat of empire from Mofcow to St. Petersburgh; defcribes that new metropolis; and gives an account of the weather and different customs and diverfions; which we are forry our limits will not permit us to detail. Mr. Coxe, in the fequel of his first volume, goes on to defcribe the fortrefs of St. Petersburgh, the cathedral, tombs and characters of Peter the Great and of the Imperial family, with a variety of other particulars too numerous to be specified. Among thefe, what is most interesting is, an account of Catharine I. of Ruffia; her origin and early adventures. Her marriage to a Swedish dragoon her capture by the Ruffians,-and finally her becoming the miftrefs, the confort, and fucceffor of Peter the Great,

[To be continued.

ART.

ART. X. The Hiftory of Scotland, from the Eftablishment of the Reformation, till the Death of Queen Mary. To which are annexed, Obfervations concerning the public Law and the Conftitution of Scotland. By Gilbert Stuart, Doctor of Laws, and Member of the Society of Antiquarians at Edinburgh. 8vo. 2 vols. 14s. Murray. London. 1784.

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[Concluded from our last.]

E have given this article a greater confequence, than it could naturally have claimed at our hands, becaufe we have in it a fair and impartial reprefentation of Queen Mary's conduct, now prefented to the public for the first time. We muft however keep our remaining view of this work, within narrower bounds. We fhall therefore pafs on nearly to the clofe of the fecond volume at once. We fhall lay two interefting extracts from that part of the hiftory, before our readers. And then we fhall fum up our opinion of the whole in a few words.

Upon the departure of the two carls,' Shrewsbury and Kent, who had come to acquaint Mary that fhe was to die the next morning, her domeftics gave a full vent to their afflictions; and while the experienced a melancholy pleafure in their tears, lamentations, and kindness, she endeavoured to confole them. Their grief, fhe faid was altogether unavailing, and could neither better her condition nor their own. Her caufe had every thing about it that was most honourable, and the miferies from which he was to be relieved, were the moft hopeless and the most afflicting. Inftead of dejection and fadnefs, the therefore enjoined them to be contented and happy. That she might have the more leifure to fettle her affairs, fhe fupped early; and, according to her ufual cufton fhe eat little. While at table, the remarked to Burgoin, her phyfician, that the force of truth was infurmountable"; for that the earl of Kent, notwithstanding the pretence of her having confpired against Elizabeth, had plainly informed her, that her death would be the fecurity of their religion. When fupper was over, fhe ordered all her fervants to appear before her, and drank to them. They pledged her upon their knees, mingling tears with the wine, and entreating her forgiveness for any offences they had ever committed against her. She condefcended in her turn, to beg their pardon for her omiffions or neglects; and fle recommended it to them to love charity, to avoid the unhappy paflions of hatred and malice, and to preferve themfelves ftedfaff in the faith of Christ. She now confidered the inventory of her goods, and jewels, and put down the names of the domeftics to whom the deftined them. To her confeffor the fent a letter, entreating the favour of his benediction and prayers. With her own hand fhe wrote out her tellament, fettling her affairs with great prudence. To the king of France and the duke of Guife fhe addreffed feparate difpatches, in which the recalled to them her misfortunes, afferted her innocence, and pointed out her fervants as proper objects of their generofity. Her fon fhe alfo mentioned to them, recommending him to their anxious cares, if he should prove worthy of their efteem; but delicately intimating a fear that the courfe of his conduct might difpleafe them. Having Eng. Rev. Vol. V. Mar. 1785. finished

finished these attentions, he entered her bed-chamber with her women; and according to her uniform practice, employed herself in re ligious duties, and in reading in the lives of the faints. At her accustomed time she went to fleep; and after enjoying fome hours of found reft, fhe waked. She then indulged in pious meditation, and partook of the facrament by the means of a confecrated hofte, which a melancholy prefentiment of her calamities had induced her to obtain from Pius V.

'At the break of day fhe arrayed herself in rich but becoming ap parel; and calling together her fervants fhe ordered her will to be read, and apologized for the smallness of her legacies, from her inability to be more generous. Following the arrangement the had previously made, the then dealt out to them her goods, wardrobe and jewels. To Burgoin her phyfician, the committed the care of her will, with a charge that he would deliver it to her principal executor the duke of Guife. She alfo entrusted him with tokens of her affection for the king of France, the queen mother, and her relations of the houfe of Lorraine. Bidding now an adieu to all wordly concerns, the retired to her oratory, where fhe was feen fometimes kneeling at the altar, and fometimes ftanding motionlefs, with her hands joined, and her eyes directed to the heavens. In thefe tender and agitated moments fhe was dwelling upon the memory of her fufferings and her virtues, repofing her weakneffes in the bofom of her God, and lifting and folacing her fpirit in the contemplation of his perfections and his mercy. While the was thus engaged, Thomas Andrews, the high fheriff of the coun ty, announced to her that the hour of her execution was arrived. She came forth beaming benignity and peace. Her gown was of black filk; her pettycoat was bordered with crimson velvet: a veil of lawn, bowed out with wire, and edged with bonelace, was fastened to her cawle, and hung down to the ground; an Agnus Dei was fufpended from her neck by a pomander chain; her beads were fixed to her girdle and the bore in her hand a crucifix of ivory. Amidft the fcreams and lamentations of her women, fhe defcended the stairs; and in the porch fhe was received by the earls of Kent and Shrewf bury, with their attendants. Here too fhe met Sir Andrew Melvil, the mafter of her household, whom her keepers had debarred from her prefence during many days. Throwing himfelf at her feet, and weeping aloud, he deplored his fad deftiny, and the forrowful tidings he was to carry into Scotland. "Lament not, faid fhe, honeft "Melvil, but rather exult that thou fhalt fee Mary Stuart delivered et from all her woes. The world, my good fervant, is but vanity ; "and an ocean of tears would not fuffice to bewail its forrows. Hi"therto I have found thee faithful; and though thou be in religion a proteftant, and I am a catholic, yet feeing there is but one Chrift, "Icharge thee as thou respecteft him, to bear this last meffage front

me, that I die unfhaken in my religion, and unchanged in my affec "tions to Scotland and France. Tell my fon to ferve God, to confult "the true interefts of his people, and never to entrust himself to the power of another prince. Affure him, that I have never executed any deed prejudicial to his kingdom, his crown, or his greatnefs; and admonish him to maintain an amity with Elizabeth." She added, "O God! thou who art truth itfelf! and who readeft the most fe

.

cret thoughts of mortals! thou knoweft, that I was ever moft anxiously defirous of the cordial union of the kingdoms of England ' and Scotland. Infinite are the injuries which my adverfaries have • done me. They have thirsted for my blood, like the hart that panteth for the brook. O God of mercy forgive them." When fhe named her fon, her eyes were flooded with tears which she could not reprefs; and the feemed to struggle with a forrow that fhe cared not to reveal.

After fhe had spoken to Melvil, fhe befought the two earls that her fervants might be treated with civility, that they might enjoy the prefents fhe had bestowed upon them, and that they might receive a fafe conduct to depart out of the dominions of Elizabeth. These flight favours were readily granted her. She then begged, that they might be permitted to attend her to the scaffold, in order that they might be witneffes of her behaviour at her death. To this request the earl of Kent difcovered a strong reluctance. He faid that they would behave with an intemperate paffion, and that they would practife fu perftitious formalities, and dip their handkerchiefs in her blood. She replied, that he was fure that none of their actions would be blameable; and that it was but decent that fome of her women should be about her. The earl still hefitating, fhe was affected with the infolent and stupid indignity of his malice, and exclaimed, "I am cousin to your mistress, and defcended from Henry VII. I am a dowager "of France, and the anointed queen of Scotland." The earl of Shrewsbury interpofing, it was agreed, that fhe fhould felect two of her women, who might affift her in her last moments, and a few of her men servants, who might behold her demeanour, and report it.

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'She entered the hall where she was to fuffer, and advanced with an air of grace and majesty to the scaffold, which was built at its farthest extremity. The fpectators were numerous. Her magnanimous carriage, her beauty, of which the luftre was yet dazzling, and her matchlefs misfortunes, affected them. They gave way to contending emotions of awe, admiration, and pity. She afcended the scaffold with a firm step and a ferene afpect, and turned her eye to the block, the axe, and the executioners. The fpectators were diffolved in tears. A chair was placed for her in which fle feated herself. Si lence was commanded; and Beale read aloud the warrant for her death. She heard it attentively, yet with a manner from which it might be gathered, that her thoughts were employed upon a fubject more important. Dr. Fletcher, dean of Peterborough, taking his ftation oppofite to her without the rails of the fcaffold began a difcourfe upon her life paft, prefent, and to come. He affected to enumerate her trefpaffes against Elizabeth, and to defcribe the love and tenderness which that princefs had hewn to her. He counfelled her to repent of her crimes; and while he inveighed against her attachment to popery, he threatened her with everlafting fire, if the fhould delay to renounce its errors. His behaviour was indecent and coarfe in the greatest degree, and while he meant to infult her, he'infulted ftill more the religion which the profeffed, and the fovereign whom be flattered. Twice the interrupted him with great gentleness. But he pertinacioufly continued his exhortations. Raifing her voice, the commanded him with a refolute tone to withold his indignities and

02

menaces,

menaces, and not to trouble her any more about her faith. "I was "born, faid fhe, in the Roman Catholic religion; I have expe

rienced its comforts during my life, in the trying seasons of fick"nefs, calamity, and forrow; and I am refolved to die in it." The two earls afhamed of the favage obftinacy of his deportment, admonifhed him to defift from his fpeeches, and to content himself with praying for her converfion. He entered upon a long prayer; and Mary falling upon her knees, and difregarding him altogether, employed herself in devotions from the office of the Virgin. She arofe; and after waiting till the dean had concluded his prayer, fhe again kneeled, and in an audible voice expreffed her unlimited forgiveness of all her enemies, recommended the church, her fon, and queen Elizabeth, to the protection of God, and implored the faints to intercede with him in her behalf. Carrying now her crucifix to her lips, the preted it devoutly to them, and then looking upon it eagerly, the exclaimed, "O Chrift! thou wert extended on the cross "to fave mankind when they were loft. Pardon my tranfgreffions, "and ftretch out thy arms to receive me in mercy." The earl of Kent offended with her reverence for the crucifix, defired her to have Chrift in her heart and not in her hand. She mildly answered that fhe held his image in her hand that her imagination might be impreffed with the livelier fenfibility of his paffion, and that her heart might be touched and penetrated with the greater compunction and gratitude.

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'Her women now affifted her to difrobe; and the executioners offering their aid, he repreffed their forwardnefs, by obferving that the was not accuftomed to be attended by fuch fervants, nor to be undreffed before fo large an áffembly. Her upper garments being laid afide, fhe drew upon her arms a pair of filk gloves. Her women and men fervants burst out into loud lamentations. She put her finger to her mouth to admonish them to be filent, and then bade them a final adieu with a smile, that feemed to confole, but that plunged them into deeper woe. She kneeled refolutely before the block, and faid, 66 In thee, O Lord! do I truft, let me never be confounded." She covered her eyes with a linen handkerchief in which the eucharift had been enclosed; and firetching forth her body with great tranquillity, and fitting her neck for the fatal ftroke, fhe called out,

Into thy hands, O God! I commit my fpirit," The executioner with defign, from unfkilfulnefs, or from inquietude, ftruck three blows before he feparated her head from her body. He held it up mangled with wounds and ftreaming with blood; and her hair being. difcompofed, was discovered to be already gray with afflictions and anxieties. The dean of Peterborough alone cried out, "So let the "enemies of Elizabeth perifh." The earl of Kent alone, in a low voice anfwered "Amen." All the other fpectators were, melted down with the the tendereft fympathy and forrow.

'Her women haftened to protect her dead body from the curiofity of the fpectators, and folaced themfelves with the thoughts of mourning over it undisturbed when they should retire, and of laying it out in its funeral garb. But the two earls prohibited them from difcharging thefe melancholy yet pleafing offices to their departed miftrefs, and chafed them from the hall with indignity. Burgoin her

phyfician