The Q's last Letter to the K.

(49

of my dearest kindred! And will it then be credited, that I could stoop to degrade the noble and generous English? (for they have, in. spite of power and oppression, voluntarily testified their love for me.) Can it be believed, that a Queen, who saw she reigned in the hearts of her people, would, by her own act, forfeit their good opinion of her? Can the most sceptical of the human race (not previously bent on my destruction,) in their conscience believe, that, if guilty of the crimes laid to my charge, I would rush, at the peril of my life, to confront my accusers, and that, too, at a time when my degradation was the high road to favour?-Such a doctrine is irreconcileable with common sense, and repugnant to human feelings.

And here allow me, my Liege, to pay that grateful homage, which I so truly feel, to the great bulk of the British Nation; nor think that, when I thus commemorate their generosity and attachment, I mean any disrespect to their Sovereign. The people of England are, indeed, a loyal people; and their generous ardour in endeavouring to rescue a female from oppression, is perfectly consistent with the most exalted notions of loyalty and chivalric honour. May your Majesty long reign in their hearts, and may the state be guided by such counsels as shall best contribute to its welfare, and the happiness of those over whom you reign!

I shall pass over with a sigh the cruel repulse I met with on that gorgeous day which saw you crowned, because my wish is not to cast the slightest reproach; but I feel it a sacred duty, before I lay down my pen, to declare, that in that act I was guided by no advice opposite to my own inclinations; and it equally behoves me to de"clare, that, although I hold in the highest estimation the opinions of those devoted friends who have adhered to their persecuted Queen, "through evil report and through good report," yet I have acted all along agreeable to the dictates of my own heart, and am alone accountable for every step I have taken. Should this letter, contrary to my expectation, ever be seen by the public, it will doubtless meet with the animadversions of those enemies, whom nothing short of my "death will satisfy: for I have long since found, that, to such malig1 nant beings, were my conduct proved to be

"Chaste as the icicle

That's curdled by the frost from purest snow,"

still they would discover spots of the deadliest hue, and strive, with

renewed virulence, to blackén my reputation. But, although they neither feel compunction for the injuries they have done me, nor pity for my woes, I freely forgive them; well knowing that a day of retribution must overtake them; and that; however they may now triumph over my misfortunes, they cannot deprive me of my integrity and innocence, nor interpose between me and the righteous Judge of Heaven!