The preservation of the princess Elizabeth may be reckoned a remarkable
instance of the watchful eye which Christ had over his church. The
bigotry of Mary regarded not the ties of consanguinity, of natural
affection, of national succession. Her mind, physically morose was under
the dominion of men who possessed not the milk of human kindness, and
whose principles were sanctioned and enjoined by the idolatrous tenets
of the Romish pontiff. Could they have foreseen the short date of Mary's
reign, they would have imbrued their hands in the protestant blood of
Elizabeth, and, as a _sine qua non_ of the queen's salvation, have
compelled her to bequeath the kingdom to some catholic prince. The
contest might have been attended with the horrors incidental to a
religious civil war, and calamities might have been felt in England
similar to those under Henry the Great in France, whom queen Elizabeth
assisted in opposing his priest-ridden catholic subjects. As if
Providence had the perpetual establishment of the protestant faith in
view, the difference of the durations of the two reigns is worthy of
notice. Mary might have reigned many years in the course of nature, but
the course of grace willed it otherwise. Five years and four months was
the time of persecution alloted to this weak, disgraceful reign, while
that of Elizabeth reckoned a number of years among the highest of those
who have sat on the English throne, almost nine times that of her
merciless sister!

Before Mary attained the crown, she treated her with a sisterly
kindness, but from that period her conduct was altered, and the most
imperious distance substituted. Though Elizabeth had no concern in the
rebellion of Sir Thomas Wyat, yet she was apprehended, and treated as a
culprit in that commotion. The manner too of her arrest was similar to
the mind that dictated it: the three cabinet members, whom she deputed
to see the arrest executed, rudely entered the chamber at ten o'clock at
night, and, though she was extremely ill, they could scarcely be induced
to let her remain till the following morning. Her enfeebled state
permitted her to be moved only by short stages in a journey of such
length to London; but the princess, though afflicted in person, had a
consolation in mind which her sister never could purchase: the people,
through whom she passed on her way, pitied her, and put up their prayers
for her preservation. Arrived at court, she was made a close prisoner