DIGITISED MANUSCRIPTS

( 6 ) helped to consolidate her throne, and bind it to her people with the common bond of love and loyalty. Queen Elizabeth was the last sovereign of the Tudor dynasty ; Queen Anne was the last sovereion of the Stuart dynasty. Queen Elizabeth was an autocrat, Queen Anne was already a constitutional sovereign. Had the princes of the house of Stuart been endowed with the same good and wholesome English sense as the Tudors, the history of England during the seventeenth century would have run a smoother course. On the other hand, we may assume that the rapid growth of English liberties would have been considerably retarded. The Stuarts were an impassioned and _ short- sighted race. Imbued with the obsolete notions of divine right, they endeavoured to gag the civil liberties of the people of England, and interfered with the free exercise of their religion. The Revolution of 1649 sent Charles the First to the block ; the Revolution of 1688 sent James the Second into exile. The people of England consequently leapt, within those forty years, from comparative bondage to national freedom. To ensure their freedom, they framed laws which were so efficient, and yet so moderate, that very few of them were subsequently annulled. Foremost among these laws was the one which