ish monarch failing to support Alva in
finishing what he had begun! Had the armada of Spain safely landed with
the benedictions of Rome, in England, at a moment when our own fleet was
short of gunpowder, and at a time when the English catholics formed a
powerful party in the nation, we might now be going to mass.

After his immense conquests, had Gustavus Adolphus not perished in the
battle of Lutzen, where his genius obtained a glorious victory,
unquestionably a wonderful change had operated on the affairs of Europe;
the protestant cause had balanced, if not preponderated over, the
catholic interest; and Austria, which appeared a sort of universal
monarchy, had seen her eagle's wings clipped. But "the Antichrist," as
Gustavus was called by the priests of Spain and Italy, the saviour of
protestantism, as he is called by England and Sweden, whose death
occasioned so many bonfires among the catholics, that the Spanish court
interfered lest fuel should become too scarce at the approaching
winter--Gustavus fell--the fit hero for one of those great events which
have never happened!

On the first publication of the "Icon Basilike," of Charles the First,
the instantaneous effect produced on the nation was such, fifty
editions, it is said, appearing in one year, that Mr. Malcolm Laing
observes, that "had this book," a sacred volume to those who considered
that sovereign as a martyr, "appeared a _week sooner_, it might have
preserved the king," and possibly have produced a reaction of popular
feeling! The chivalrous Dundee made an offer to James the Second, which,
had it been acted on, Mr. Laing acknowledges, might have produced
another change! What then had become of our "glorious Revolution," which
from its earliest step, throughout the reign of William, was still
vacillating amidst the unstable opinions and contending interests of so
many of its first movers?

The great political error of Cromwell is acknowledged by all parties to
have been the adoption of the French interest in preference to the
Spanish; a strict alliance with Spain had preserved the balance of
Europe, enriched the commercial industry of England, and, above all, had
checked the overgrowing power of the French government. Before Cromwell
had contributed to the predominance of the French power, the French
Huguenots were of consequence enough to secure an indulgent treatment.
The parliament, as Elizabeth herself had formerly done, considered so
powerful a pa