had a grant given him of the manor of Woodstock, near Oxford, with a noble park. A splendid house was likewise built for him in the park; which belongs to the family now, and is called Blenheim, in honour of the duke's great victory.

But, whilst we are speaking of this great English general, and the brave English soldiers, we must not forget to mention the brave admirals and sailors too. At the beginning of queen Anne's reign, indeed, we were not so successful by sea as we have been since: I cannot, however, help telling you of the brave admiral Benbow: he fought like any English admiral of our own days; but his officers treated him most cruelly, and behaved quite in a different manner from what any of our naval captains would do now. Admiral Benbow was placed near the West Indies with a fleet of ten ships, to annoy the enemy's trade, and he was informed that the French admiral was in those seas, with a force equal to his own. He presently found the enemy's ships, and immediately formed the line of battle, and began the attack, but he soon saw that he was left almost alone to bear the whole

fire of the enemy. The admiral, however, kept

fighting on till night, and he determined to resume the attack the next day. In the morning, he found, to his great dismay, that all his ships, but one, had fallen back. Still, however, this brave admiral, with only one ship to assist him, continued to pursue and engage the enemy, for four days. The last day's battle was more furious than the rest, and in this, his leg was taken off by a cannon ball. He then ordered that they should place him in a cradle on the quarter-deck, and he continued to give his orders till his ship was so completely disabled, that he could go on no longer.

When one of his lieutenants, during the fight, expressed his sorrow for the loss of the admiral's leg, "Yes," said Benbow, "I am sorry for it too; but I had rather have lost both my legs, than have seen the dishonour of this day. But, do you hear! if another shot should take me off, behave like men, and fight it out." The admiral soon died of his wounds; and the officers who had deserted him were severely punished. Two of them were shot, by the sentence of a courtmartial at Plymouth.

I must not forget to tell you, too, that it was

in queen Anne's reign that Gibraltar was taken. This is a town, as you will see in your map, at the very bottom (or south) of Spain. It was taken from the Spaniards by Sir George Rooke; you may be sure that this was not done without severe fighting, as the place is defended, perhaps, more strongly than any place in the world. The English, however, took it, and they have kept it ever since; and, as you see that it is just at the straits, or narrow sea, by which the Mediterranean is entered, it gives us great power and command in that sea.

There are so many things to write about in this reign, that it is impossible to give you an account of them all in my short letters; and, if I were to attempt to describe all the battles that were fought, and all the politics of the day, and the changes of ministers, and the Whigs and the Tories, and other things of this nature, you would not at present, perhaps, take much interest in such things. I must not, however, forget to tell you, that it was in this reign that the union of Scotland and England was made. You know that James the First of England was also king of Scotland. He was lawful heir to both kingdoms:

and, since that time, the two kingdoms were governed by the same king; but still they were separate kingdoms, and had different parliaments. It was, however, thought likely to be an advantage to them both to have them united under one government; and this, after much debating and delay, was at last agreed upon. The greater part of the nation seemed to approve of the measure, and it appears to have answered their expectations, and to have been a great benefit to both countries.

In queen Anne's reign, an act was passed for building fifty new churches in and about London. This was an excellent measure, for London kept increasing in size, and, therefore, there was not sufficient room to accommodate those who might wish to worship in the Established Church. It was, therefore, highly necessary to remedy this evil. When people neglect religious worship, they generally become forgetful of all religious duty, and are then led into the practice of any crime to which they may be tempted. Church room should be provided for all, the poor as well as the rich, that they may attend if they please. If they then neglect the duty of religious worship,

-or rather, I should say, give up so great a privilege, then they are themselves to answer for it, the fault will be their own, not that of the go

vernment.

A few only of these churches were, however, then built; and there has been a general complaint of want of church-room in the neighbourhood of London ever since; and it has been particularly felt in our own day, since so much has been added to the size of London within the last few years. Happily, however, many new churches have been lately built; so that we will now hope that no one need be absent from church for want of room: what a happiness it would be if no one were absent for want of desire to worship God, to hear his word, and to learn his will!

I must, however, bring my letter to a conclusion. The poor queen, notwithstanding all the victories, and the prosperity of the nation, was harassed and tormented by the quarrels and jealousies and changes of her ministers: first one party was in favour, then another; then she found that those whom she considered as her best friends, were accused of laying plots and snares to oppose her wishes; and, during all these perplexities,