her sacred
ears were ever open to hear them, and her blessed hands ever stretched
out to relieve them. They acknowledged, he said, in all duty and
thankfulness acknowledged, that, before they called, her "preventing
grace" and "all-deserving goodness" watched over them for their good;
more ready to give than they could desire, much less deserve. He
remarked, that the attribute which was most proper to God, to perform
all he promiseth, appertained also to her; and that she was all
truth, all constancy, and all goodness. And he concluded with these
expressions: "Neither do we present our thanks in words or any outward
sign, which can be no sufficient retribution for so great goodness; but
in all duty and thankfulness, prostrate at your feet, we present our
most loyal and thankful hearts, even the last drop of blood in our
hearts, and the last spirit of breath in our nostrils, to be poured out,
to be breathed up, for your safety." [*]

* D'Ewes, p. 658, 659.

The queen heard very patiently this speech, in which she was flattered
in phrases appropriated to the Supreme Being; and she returned an answer
full of such expressions of tenderness towards her people, as ought to
have appeared fulsome after the late instances of rigor which she had
employed, and from which nothing but necessity had made her depart. Thus
was this critical affair happily terminated; and Elizabeth, by prudently
receding, in time, from part of her prerogative, maintained her dignity,
and preserved the affections of her people.

The commons granted her a supply quite unprecedented, of four subsidies
and eight fifteenths; and they were so dutiful as to vote this supply
before they received any satisfaction in the business of monopolies,
which they justly considered as of the utmost importance to the
interest and happiness of the nation. Had they attempted to extort that
concession by keeping the supply in suspense, so haughty was the queen's
disposition, that this appearance of constraint and jealousy had been
sufficient to have produced a denial of all their requests, and to have
forced her into some acts of authority still more violent and arbitrary.

{1602.} The remaining events of this reign are neither numerous nor
important. The queen, finding that the Spaniards had involved her in so
much trouble, by fomenting and assisting the Irish rebellion, resolved
to give them employment at home; and she fitted out a squadron of nine
ships, under Si