en, p. 385. Spotswood,
p. 180, 181.

** Spotswood, p. 181.

*** Haynes, vol. i. p. 377.

Mary's proposal, however, bore so specious an appearance of equity and
justice, that Elizabeth, sensible that reason would, by superficial
thinkers, be deemed to lie entirely on that side, made no more mention
of the matter; and though further concessions were never made by either
princess, they put on all the appearances of a cordial reconciliation
and friendship with each other.

The queen observed that, even without her interposition, Mary was
sufficiently depressed by the mutinous spirit of her own subjects;
and instead of giving Scotland for the present any inquietude or
disturbance, she employed herself, more usefully and laudably, in
regulating the affairs of her own kingdom, and promoting the happiness
of her people. She made some progress in paying those great debts which
lay upon the crown; she regulated the coin, which had been much debased
by her predecessors; she furnished her arsenals with great quantities of
arms from Germany and other places; engaged her nobility and gentry to
imitate her example in this particular; introduced into the kingdom the
art of making gunpowder and brass cannon; fortified her frontiers on
the side of Scotland; made frequent reviews of the militia; encouraged
agriculture, by allowing a free exportation of corn; promoted trade and
navigation; and so much increased the shipping of her kingdom, both by
building vessels of force herself, and suggesting like undertakings to
the merchants, that she was justly styled the restorer of naval glory,
and the queen of the northern seas.[*] The natural frugality of her
temper, so far from incapacitating her for these great enterprises, only
enabled her to execute them with greater certainty and success; and
all the world, saw in her conduct the happy effects of a vigorous
perseverance in judicious and well-concerted projects.

* Camden, p. 388. Strype, vol. i. p. 230, 336, 337.

It is easy to imagine that so great a princess, who enjoyed such
singular felicity and renown, would receive proposals of marriage from
every one that had any likelihood of succeeding; and though she had made
some public declarations in favor of a single life, few believed that
she would persevere forever in that resolution. The archduke Charles,
second son of the emperor,[*] as well as Casimir, son of the elector
palatine, made applications to her; and