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fhe became so very arbitrary, that her fon, Edward III. confined her for life to her house at Rifings, and her favourite Mortimer was hanged at Tyburn.

Joanna of Kent was coufin to the Black Prince, who married her for her great beauty; but the had the mortification to fee her glorious husband cut off in the flower of his age; and though her fon Richard II. fucceeded to the throne, he was depofed on account of his favourites, after marrying Anne of Luxemberg, fifter to the emperor Wenceflaus..

Henry VI. married Margaret, the daughter of Rene, duke of Anjou, titular king of Sicily, and niece of the queen of France. She was a lady of great beauty and fpirit; but her hufband loft the kingdom of France, which his father had won; and fhewed us, that England, by endeavouring to conquer that kingdon, ruined herself. William de la Pole, duke of Suffolk, was the favourite of this pacific and unhappy monarch; but the conduct of the duke, like that of Gavefton and the Spencers under Edward II. incited a civil war, which occafioned the death of both him and the king. The duke of York was victorious over all the friends of the houfe of Lancaster; but he was defeat ed by the queen, and slain at the battle of Wakefield. She afterwards beat the great earl of Warwick, on Bernard's Heath, near St. Alban's; but was her felf defeated by Edward IV. between Caxton and Towton, though the fought with all the fpirit of a Zenobia.

She

then fled into Scotland, where the raised another army, and re-entered England, but was fuddenly repulfed by LordMontague, and obliged to fly again into Scotland. Prince Edward, the fon of Henry VI. was married to Anne, the daughter of the earl of Warwick, who then opposed King Edward IV. and obliged him to retire into Holland, from whence he foon returned, defeated, and flew the earl of Warwick at Barnet. However, queen Margaret levied another army, but was overtaken by Ed. ward IV. at Tewksbury, who made her

The young

and her fon prifoners. prince was in the eighteenth year of his age, and was barbarously massacred by fome of the principal Yorkists, in the prefence of his mother, who was confined in the Tower of London four years, when he was ranfomed by her father for fifty thousand crowns.

Philip de Comines fays, that Edward IV. was fo remarkable for the beauty of his perfon, that he owed his restoration chiefly to the inclination which the ladies bore for him; but while he was demanding Bona of Savoy in marriage, who was fifter to the French queen, he accidentally fell in love with, and married Elizabeth Woodville, the widow of Sir John Grey, who was killed in the battle of Bernard's-Heath. This marriage occafioned all the refentment of the earl of Warwick against the king; and it alío made the French king his enemy. However, the queen had little happiness from this alliance; only the marriage occafioned the birth of a princels, who, after the murder of her two brothers by their uncle, Richard III. became the happy inftrument of uniting the contending houfes of York and Lancafter. Besides, this queen was made unhappy by three concubines kept by the king; of whom the celebrated Jane Shore was the greatest favourite, being equally remarkable for her beauty in youth, and her mifery in age; for the had been the happy wife of an opulent merchant, the idolized mistress of a potent king, and the fair adultress of a noble Lord. The protector was afraid of taking her life, but he stripped her of her fortune: however, she did not perish for want, according to the common report; and though Mr. Rowe has beautifully embellished her ftory, he must have been fenfible that she was alive in the reign of Henry VIII.

Richard III. married the young widow of the prince of Wales, whom he murdered at Tewksbury, and then caufed her death through excess of grief, that he might marry his own niece, the princefs Elizabeth, daughter

of

of Edward IV. who expreffed the utmost abhorrence at fuch an union.

The earl of Richmond invaded England, and laid claim to the crown, as the immediate heir of the house of Lancaiter. He defeated and flew Richard at Bosworth; after which he was crowned, and united both roses by marrying the princess Elizabeth, who was the most beautiful lady of her time. But Henry VII. was fo jealous of any thing that might aggrandize the houfe of York, and fo fufpicious of any refpect that was paid to his queen, that he fhewed her very little regard, which occafioned several infurrections.

Henry VIII. had fix wives, and fome of them very remarkable for their beauty; but none of them enjoyed much felicity. Catharine of Arragon was cruelly divorced: Anne Boleyn was wrongfully beheaded; Jane Seymour died in child-bed: Anne of Cleves was arbitrarily divorced: Catherine Howard was fomewhat unjustly beheaded and Catherine Parr owed her escape more to her own prudence and good fortune, than the humanity of her husband. By the first of these ladies Henry had the princefs Mary: by the fecond, the princess Elizabeth; and by the third, Edward VI. who all three fucceeded to the throne.

The unfortunate Lady Jane Grey was univerfally allowed the most uncommon beauty of her age. She was the eldest daughter of the duke of Suffolk, by Frances Brandon; who, in the will of Henry VIII. was the next in fucceffion after the princess Elizabeth; but by the will of Edward VI. Lady Jane was appointed his immediate fucceffor. She married the accomplished Dudley, lord Guilford, fourth fon to the afpiring duke of Northumberland, whofe ambition brought on the deftruction of that amiable and excellent pair. It was the duke who perfuaded the king to appoint lady Jane his fucceffor: it was he who prevailed upon her to accept of the regal dignity and it was he who attempted to preferve the crown for her by force of arms. She was proclaimed queen in the

fixteenth year of her age; but the princefs Mary claimed the crown, and won it, though fhe was a professed papift, and lady Jane was a zealous proteftant. Northumberland was unfuccefsful, and lady Jane was deprived of her royalty nine days after fhe came to it. The duke was first beheaded, then his fon the lord Guilford, and afterwards his unparallelled wife, who was only eighteeen years old, the ornament of England for religion, beauty, and learning.

The death of this princefs was foon followed by that of another. This was Mary Queen of Scots, grand daughter to James the IVth, and to Margaret, eldeft daughter of Henry the VIIth, by virtue of which right, her fon, James the Ift was recognized king of England, after the death of Queen Elizabeth, who beheaded the mother. Mary was daugh. ter to James the Vth, King of Scotland, and to Mary of Lorrain, eldest daughter to Claude Duke of Guise, and widow of Lewis Duke of Longueville. She was married to Francis the IId, king of France; upon which occafion the affumed the title of queen of England; pretending that Elizabeth was illegitimate, and unworthy to fit on the throne. On the death of her confort, Francis the IId, in 1561, fhe returned to Scotland, of which kingdom fhe was queen, and efpoufed Henry Stuart, lord Darnly, fon to the earl of Lenox, who became jealous of fome familiarities between his queen and David Rizzo, the famous Italian muficiẩn : but Rizzo was killed in her presence; after which the became fond of the earl of Bothwel, who killed the lord Darnley, and married his queen, though the had prince James by the former. The Scotch lords drove Bothwel into banishment, who lived very miserably in Denmark: while the earl of Murray affumed the fupreme authority,in the name of prince James; and the queen took refuge in England, where queen Eliza beth threw her into prifon, and kept her there 18 years, when the brought her to a trial, for being an accomplice

in certain confpiracies formed against her perfon; for which she was beheaded on the 8th of February, 1587, in Fotheringay castle, in the forty-fixth year of her age, though most of the princes in Europe employed very earneft folicitations to procure her liberty.

Such are the illustrious and unfortunate beauties represented in the annals of the English history. Let their examples ferve as a melancholy leffon to pofterity," That beauty has frequent ly loft its force; and that virtue is the greatest ornament that can dignity a woman."

From the UNIVERSAL MUSEUM.

On the Multiplicity of Modern Authors, By a Land-Carriage Fishmonger.

W

HEN I reflect upon the almost infinite number of writers that obtrude themselves both upon the lettered and unlettered world, I cannot help comparing the public to an overfrocked fish pond, where the multitude of the finny ruce is fo ftupendous, that not one can thrive, or approach to any degree of perfection, on account of the univerfal demand for that nurture and provifion, which, if equally divided, all must be poor; and, if unequally, a very few can be fat. I, perhaps, may ftand excufed, if I go ftill greater lengths into this comparison, and by ranking feveral claffes of authors with certain kinds of fish, may at least divert, if not instruct my reader. The fubject is new, and might demand more room, than can be spared for it in this paper; but, if any of the fraternity of the quill fhould diflike certain paffages, the conciseness of them, at leaft, muft be agreeable.

I often amuse myself in a morning by taking a turn to the fide of a very fpacious pond, and always am furnished with fome crumbs of bread, which I throw into the water, and which generally become the prey of those little gentry, that are ever near the furface VOL. III.

fuch as the bleak, the minnows, and miller's-thumb. When I behold with what amazing affiduity and agility these candidates for a breakfast oppose, joftle and harrafs one another, I think a tribe of fucking epigrammatifts, minute enigmatifts, and fmatterring effayifts, prefent themselves before me, scrambling, with incredible pains for a morfel of bread, and grasping for that airy bubble reputation, which breaks before it comes within their reach.

In fome months of the year I make ufe of the artificial fly, and meet with great fuccefs among the dace and reach, who are caught in great quantities by fwallowing the delufion, and lofe their lives, while, by their rafh leaps, they foolishly afpire to fupport them. Here I cannot help contemplating on the levy-hunting fcriblers, who, from time to time, dangle after an enfnaring mock-patron, till, like roaches, they find themfelves cheated; and, like roaches, alfo perceive themselves to be nothing but bones.

Sometimes I place lines over night, in order to make a capture of the grovelling eels, creatures that feed on mud and weeds, imagining themselves fecure only in the dark, and are confequently on their guard in the day-time. Such as thefe are the cafuifts, metaphyficians and polemical writers; obfcure, captious, and flippery, who (as an eminent controverfialist observes) must be taken by the tail, that being the only end which is capable of being apprehended, or liable to be detained.

The carp, tench, and many other fifh, which neither affect the furface, nor dive to the bottom, are lively reprefentations of a very great majority of writers in every branch of learning and ignorance, morality and immorality, bigotry and scepticism, who go on, ream after ream, volume after volume, in a fleeping, ferene, peaceful, ferious, fober mediocrity, neither rifing for the fly that fwims upon the furface, nor finking for the grub-worm that fubfides to the bottom; but quietly contenting themselves with such grains, as the libe

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ral hands of the public throw into their mouths.

With regard to the fish of prey, fuch as pike, chubs, perch, &c. they are no bad emblems of critics, who devour all they can come at, and who feem to live alone on the death and deftruction of others. These critics, or writers of prey, would infallibly remedy the grievance complained of in the beginning of this paper, namely, the multiplicity of authors, was it not for the immoderate quantity of spawn which is perpetually (and I had almoft faid providentially) propagated for the continuance of the fpecies; for if the whole race of fcrib. blers were to be extinguifhed, what would become of the letter founders, the printers, the publishers, the hawkers, the ink-makers, paper-makers, and the trunk-makers?

As, I prefume, the fimilarity between. writers and fifb is fairly and fquarely

made out, it will follow that a bokfeller

is, in fact, a down, ight (I wish I could alfo fay, an upright) fishmonger. He buys them for a trifle, and he fell them to the best advantage; the useless and offenfive he difcards, and throws away, and faves the fair and fresh, in order to make the most of them.

I never meet a certain fhrewd ftager, but I tacitly apply to him what Hamlet fays to Polonius, I know you you are a fishmonger; and fo in truth he is; and notwithstanding he is very apt to fell finking prats for anchovies, he has more business than any body in Billingfgate. This gentleman, we hear, is now on the point of publishing a new periodical work, intitled, The FISHMONGER'S MAGAZINE; or Mother Gunter's Critical repofitory.

Number I, will make its appearance, on the first of April, O. S. and will contain, amongst other curious particulars, the following entertaining topics. Imprimis, On the language of fijbes, and their marvellous tafle for mufic. 2. Horace's account of a tortoife playing upon a violin. 3. On the fouls of Oysters, with their comical manner of procreation. 4. Mathematical queftion folved, -a hering and a half for three halfpence, how

many for eleven pence? 5. The story of Echo from Ovid, with a picture of found, by an eminent hand. 6. A curious experiment in chirurgery, relating. to the anatomy of a bone. 7. Select pieces of poetry,-Joan's placket is rent and torn.-Pray did you ne'er hear of a Spanish lady?—A poem on war and peace, by. Mr. Vincentius Wing.-, You that inftead of paper, &c. from a nobleman's apartment in Grosvenorfquare. With Jongs, dances, fcenes,. machines, decorations, advertisements, ftocks, bankrupts, thefis, robberies, murders, and executions, fresh and fresh, in their utmost perfection.

S. GELASIMUS,

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Owever, he could not establish any intercourse with the inhabitants,,

who fled at his approach, fo that he ran along the coast to the northward, until he arrived at a port which he called the Conception, lying almoft due fouth of a small island afterwards known by the name of Tortuga.

Obferving that this land of Bohio was very extensive, and resembled the coast of Spain not only in trees and plants, but alfo in the fishes: for they had caught foles, falmon, pilchards and crabs; the admiral beftowed upon it the name of Efpannola. -Here he faw numbers of natives who fled from his men with great precipitation; but at length, having caught a young woman who had a plate of gold hanging at her nose, she was carried to the hips and prefented with feveral baubles, fuch as bells, and glass, then, without having received the leaft infult, difmiffed to the town where the dwelt, attended by three Indians and as many Spaniards.

Next day, eleven men going afhore well armed, travelled four leagues up the country, to a town or village confilling of a thoufand houfes, and tho the inhabitants betook themfelves to

their

their heels, as ufual, they foon returned, at the perfuafion of a St. Salvador Indian, who went after them, and represented the Chriftians in a favourable Hight. Being now poffeffed with a firm belief that the Spaniards had come from heaven, they gazed upon them with equal astonishment and awe, prefented them with victuals, and preffed them to ftay all night in their village. The Spaniards declined accepting this invitation, and returning to the hips, reported that the country was pleafant and fertile, and the people whiter and handfomer than those whom they had hitherto feen; that they were tractable and courteous, and gave them to understand that the gold country lay farther to the east

ward.

The admiral hearing this account, fet fail immediately; and on the 15th day of December, while he plied between Hifpaniola and Tortuga, in a very rough fea, he took up an Indian from a little canoe, whom he was furprized to fee live in fuch tempeftuous weather, and set him fafe afhore, with fome prefents of small value. This man having fignified to his countrymen how kindly he had been treated, they ventured to come aboard, but brought nothing of confequence, except fome fmall grains of gold hanging to their ears and nof trils, of which, as they expreffed by Ligns, there was a great quantity higher up in the country.

Next day, while the Spaniards were on fhore, bartering with the cacique or lord of that district for a plate of gold, a canoe with forty men approached from the island of Tortuga, and the cacique no fooner perceived them, than he and his people fat down on the strand, in fignal that they fhould not commit hoftilities: notwithstanding this token of peace, they landed; upon which he rofe, and by dint of threats induced them to re-imbark, then he prefented a stone to one of the Spanish officers, defiring him to throw it at the Tortugans, as a proof that he would efpoufe the caufe of the Chriftians against the Indians of the canoe, who immediately returned to their own illand.

On tuesday, Dec. 18, the fame cacique camne in ftate, being carried on a palankine, and attended by two hundred men as naked as himself; he without fcruple went on board of the admiral, who was at dinner, and entered the cabin without ceremony, accompa nied by two ancient men, who seemed to be his chief counfeilors, and fat down at his feet. He was received with great. civility and refpect, and treated with victuals and wine, which having tasted, he fent to his people who remained on deck. After dinner, during which he and his minifters spoke very little, and that with great gravity and deliberation, he prefented the admiral with a wrought girdle and two thin pieces of gold; in return for which he received a counterpane, a ftring of fine amber beads from the admiral's own neck, a pair of red hoes, and a bottle of orange flower water, which were fo acceptable to the prince, that he and his countellors told Columbus the whole island was at his command. --- Then the admiral surpris ed him with the fight of a gold medal, ftamped with the effigies of Ferdinand and Ifabella, which he confidered with admiration, and indeed expreffed figns of aftonishment at every thing he faw. In the evening he was, at his own defire, fent afhore in the ship's boat, and faluted with the discharge of feveral guns, the noife of which filled him with terror and amazement: however, he was fo pleated with his reception, that he ordered his people to entertain the Spaniards who conducted him to land, and returned to the place of his refidence, the admiral's prefents being car ried before him with great pomp and oftentation.

On monday the 24th of December the admiral weighed and failed to Punta Sancta, where he anchored about a league from fhore, and the weather be ing quite calm, he retired to reft, which he had not enjoyed for two days: the crew followed his example, and contrary to the orders he had always given, left a boy at the helm. This their negnect and elifobedience proved fatal to G 2

the

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