We understand you, Mr. ADDISON replied; but when two parties are contending within a state, and one of them only in its true interest, the policy is a little extraordinary that should incline the sovereign to discourage _this_, from the poor ambition of controuling _that_, or, as you put it still worse, from the dangerous humour of playing with _both_ parties. I say nothing of later times. I only ask; if it was indifferent, whether the counsels of the CECILS or of LEICESTER were predominant in that reign? But I mentioned these things before, and I touch them again now, only to shew you, that this conduct, however it may be varnished over by the name of wisdom, had too much the air of fearful womanish intrigue, to consist with that heroical firmness and intrepidity so commonly ascribed to queen ELIZABETH[99].
And what if, after all, I should admit, replied Dr. ARBUTHNOT, that, in the composition of a woman’s courage, at least, there might be some scruples of discretion? Is there any advantage, worth contending for, you could draw from such a concession? Or, because you would be thought serious, I will put the matter more gravely. The arts of prudence, you arraign so severely, could not be taken for pusillanimity. They certainly were not, in her own time; for she was not the less esteemed or revered by all the nations of _Europe_ on account of them. The most you can fairly conclude is, that she knew how to unite address with bravery, and that, on occasion, she could _dissemble_ her high spirit. The difficulties of her situation obliged her to this management.
Rather say at once, returned Mr. ADDISON, that the constant dissimulation, for which she was so famous, was assumed to supply the want of a better thing, which had rendered all those arts as unnecessary as they were ignoble.
But _haughtiness_ and _timidity_, pursued he, were not the only vices that turned to good account in the queen’s hands. She was frugal beyond all bounds of decorum in a prince, or rather AVARICIOUS beyond all reasonable excuse from the public wants and the state of her revenue. Nothing is more certain than this fact, from the allowance both of friends and enemies. It seems as if, in this respect, her father’s example had not been sufficient; and that, to complete her character, she had incorporated with many of his, the leading vice of her grandfather.