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Two Hundred and Forty Portraits, beau- tifully engraved on Steel. 8 vols. JJrutatr iCihrarif of No. BOHN'S HISTORICAL LIBRARY. JESSE'S COURT OF ENGLAND UNDER THE STUARTS. VOL. I. " :K# THE COURT OF ENGLAND THE REIGN OF THE STUARTS, THE PROTECTORATE. BY JOHN HENEAGE JESSE. NEW EDITION, ILLUSTRATED WITH NUMEROUS PORTRAITS. IN THREE VOLUMES. VOL. I. LONDON: HENRY G. BOHN, YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN. 1857. LONTOJT : BBADBURY AND EVANS, PRINTERS, WHITEFRIARS. res*? v.\ PREFACE. IT is a fact, which cannot have escaped observation, that while French literature abounds with private memoirs and personal anecdote, our own is deplorably deficient in agreeable chronicles of this nature. To the author, or rather compiler, of this work, the want appeared to be less owing to the absence of materials, than to a requisite diligence in bringing them to light ; in a word, that there existed a supply of latent stores in our own language (buried, as it were, among voluminous records and forgotten pamphlets) sufficient to form a succinct social history of distinguished characters, who figure more or less in every portion of our annals. With this view of the subject, it occurred to the author, that the private history of the Reigns of the Stuarts and of the Protectorate, their families, and others intimately connected with the Court, would present a series of agreeable and instructive anecdotes ; would furnish the means of introducing the reader to the principal personages of their day, and of exhibiting vi PREFACE. the Monarch and the Statesman in their undress ; while, at the same time, it would afford an insight into human character, and a picture of the manners iof the age. It could not escape the author, that some of the anecdotes contained in the present volumes, have already appeared in more than one popular work of modern date. But it would have been impossible for him to follow out his intended plan, and to give a complete and distinct form to his sketches, without partially treading in the footsteps of other writers : in those instances, however, where he has been compelled to make use of the same materials, his researches, when- ever it was practicable, have been extended to the fountain-head. The author now ventures to put forth the present volumes as a portion only of his labours. Should others agree with him in thinking that a work like the present has, in any degree, supplied a desideratum in our literature, he will consider himself fully repaid for the trouble it has cost him ; at the same time, he is free to confess that he would have been as well pleased, had the task fallen into abler hands. CONTENTS. JAMES I. CHAPTER I. PAGE Reign of James the First Fnwarlike Character of that Monarch Untimely Ends of his Ancestors Advancement in Parlia- mentary Liberty Room in which James the First was born Misfortunes of Mary Stuart Reception by Queen Elizabeth of the News of James's Birth Baptism of James Queen Mary's Imprudence Coronation of the Royal Infant James and his Tutor, Buchanan 1 CHAPTER H. James's first Speech to his Parliament His Aversion to Business His lukewarm Interposition with Elizabeth on Behalf of his Mother His Selfishness His pusillanimous Indifference at the Death of his Mother Cavalier Treatment of James by the Scottish Clergy His Subserviency to the Puritan Priest- hood Anecdote James's Taste for personal Allusions in the Pulpit Treaty of Marriage between James and Anne of Denmark Delay in the Arrival of his Bride His Voyage to Norway in order to conduct her home Strange Document The Marriage Visit to the Court of Denmark Return to Edinburgh Coronation of the Queen 9 CHAPTER III. The Gowrie Conspiracy The suspected Conspirators Details relative to the supposed Attempt on James's Life Execution of the Retainers of the Gowries Investigation of the Affair Confiscation of the Estates of the deceased Earl , 21 Vlll CONTENTS. CHAPTER IV. PAGE Death of Elizabeth Transfer of the Crown of England to James Sir Robert Carey's Mission to announce the Tidings to James Reception of the news by that Monarch The Blue Ring Joy of the Scots on James's Accession to the English Throne Sir Roger Aston Progress of James to his new Capital His Reception in England His Notions of the Royal Prerogative Tastes introduced by James into the English Court The King's Love of Buffoonery His "Counterblast to Tobacco " Curious Letter Sir John Harrington's Account of the Court Revels during the Visit of the Danish King James's Love of Wine Anecdote of the King of Denmark Intoxication of the two Kings James's Excesses and his maudlin Repentance His Habit of Swearing Lord Herbert's Apology for him 33 CHAPTER V. James's Promise to his Scotch Subjects English Antipathy to the King's Scotch Favourites James's Apology to the English Parliament for his Patronage of his Countrymen His un- deserved Reputation for Liberality Anecdotes The King's Taste for lavishing immense Sums on Court Masques Re- duced State of his Finances His Fondness for the Chase His bad Horsemanship His Love of the Cock-pit His Personal Vices Letters between the King and the Duke of Buckingham Buckingham's Profligacy Hypocrisy of James His Insincerity His Behaviour to Robert Carr . . 52 CHAPTER VI. James's Pedantry His Love of Literature His egregious Vanity His "Doron Basilicon" His Work on Daemonology His Belief in Witchcraft His Translation of the Psalms His Poetry Raillery of Henry the Fourth of France James's Wit and Conversational Talent His Aphorisms Letter from Sir John Harrington to Sir Amias Paulet, illustrative of the Character of James . ,61 CONTENTS. IX CHAPTER VII. PAGE James's Pride in his Discriminative Powers His Discernment in examining the Accusation of Lady Exeter by Lady Lake and her Daughter Discovery of the hidden Meaning in Lord Mounteagle's Letter The King's personal Appearance His Indifference as to Dress His Hunting Costume Equestrian Processions The King's Addresses to the People in passing from Whitehall to Westminster His Cowardice Lampoons James's Melancholy and Irritability His passionate Con- duct to his Servant John Gib Gib's Resentment James's Remorse ......... 72 CHAPTER VIIL The King's Presentiment of his Death His Diseases His im- prudent Indulgence in Fruit Communication to the King of his approaching End His Dying Interviews with Prince Charles His Death Remarks on the Religious Feelings of James Motives of his Toleration His Proclamation against a Puritanical Observance of the Sabbath Suspicion that James met his Death by Poison Conduct of Bucking- ham and his Mother Eglisham's Accusations Curious Tract in the British Museum Impeachment of Buckingham in the Reign of Charles the First Funeral of King James Character of that Monarch by Ben Jonson . . . .83 ANNE OF DENMARK, QUEEN OF JAMES I. Moral Character of the Queen of James I. Her Contempt for her Husband His real Dislike and affected Fondness for her Her Manners on arriving in Scotland Her personal Appearance Her Catholic Bigotry Her Attachment to Vanities and Amusements James's Anxiety that his Wife should appear with Splendour among his English Subjects Indecorous Character of the Court Masks and Plays The Queen addicted to Gallantry Her Lover, the Earl of Murray James's Jealousy of the Earl Assassination of the latter by the Earl of Huntley Huntley's Flight and Concealment The King implicated in the Deed Alexander Ruthven and CONTENTS. PAOK the Queen The Ribbon given by the Queen to her young Lover Supposed Origin of the pretended Gowrie Conspiracy The Queen's Favourites Lord Herbert of Cherbury Death of the Queen Remarkable Constellation Cause of the Queen's Death Her Friendship for Sir Walter Raleigh Her Letter to the Duke of Buckingham interceding for Sir Walter's Life Vindication of her Character by old Writers Her Children . 100 HENRY PRINCE OF WALES. Character of this Prince His Birth, and Ceremony of his Christen- ing The Earl of Mar appointed to be his Guardian Henry's Childhood Anecdotes of him and his Tutor, Adam Newton Henry invested with the Order of the Garter Created Prince of Wales His early Military Taste Interest taken in the Young Prince by Henry IV. of France Prince Henry's Project of recovering Calais from the French His Fondness for Naval Affairs Pett the Naval Architect and the Prince Henry's Amusements Instances of his Wit His Esteem for Sir Walter Raleigh His magnificent Collection of Books, Medals, Statues, Coins, &c. His Love for the Society of the Learned His Court at St. James's Palace His Admiration of Lady Essex Unsuccessful Project of Marriage Henry's Zeal for Protestantism His deep Sense of Religion, and Horror of Swearing Anecdote of the Prince and the Earl of Essex James's Jealousy of the Prince Description of Henry's person His last Illness and Death Prediction of Bruce the Astrologer Suspicion that Henry was poisoned Horrible Surmise against his Father Character of the Prince by Sir C. Cornwallis 113 ELIZABETH QUEEN OF BOHEMIA. Character of this Princess Attachment between her and her Brother, Prince Henry Juvenile Letters to King James Marriage of the Princess to Frederick, Count Palatine of the Rhine Magnificent Presents from the Palatine Splen- dour and Costliness of the Marriage Ceremony Appearance of the Bride Departure from England of the Royal Couple Letter o the Lord Mayor from Elizabeth Her Misfortunes, CONTENTS. XI PAGE and Conduct under them Enthusiasm excited in England by her Distress Verses addressed to her by Sir Henry Wotton Poetry by Elizabeth Death of her Husband The Earl of Craven's Affection for Elizabeth Her Return to her Native Country soon after the Restoration Letter from Elizabeth to Lord Finch Her Death, and Legacy to Lord Craven Biographical Sketch, of that Nobleman, the presumed Husband of Elizabeth . . . . . 1 43 LADY ARABELLA STUART. Character of this Lady Her Genealogy Her Importance in the political Intrigues of the Period Jealousy of Queen Eliza- beth, and subsequently of James, with respect to her Her Lover Sir William Seymour, afterwards Marquis of Hertford Her private Marriage to Seymour Persecution consequent on this Imprisonment of Lady Arabella and Seymour Their romantic Escape Pursuit of the Fugitives and Capture of Lady Arabella Her Committal to the Tower, and Death Her Burial in "Westminster Abbey. ..... 1C2 LODOWICK STUART, DUKE OF RICHMOND. King James's Affection for this Nobleman The Duke's Family Connections His singular and sudden Death. Parliament prorogued in respect to the Duke's Memory. . . . 171 FRANCES HOWARD, DUCHESS OP RICHMOND. Character of this Lady Her Lineage Her First Husband Her Second Marriage Despair and Suicide of Sir George Rodney, her Lover Her Vanity rebuked by her Second Husband Her Third Marriage (to the Duke of Richmond) Her Ambi- tion on becoming a Widow for the Third Time Her obstinate Arrogance Her affected Sanctity Whimsical Effect of her Vow Her Death. . 173 Xll CONTENTS. MARY VILLIERS, COUNTESS OF BUCKINGHAM. PAGE Character of this Lady Her Origin Her Marriage to Sir George Villiers Her Relations, the Beaumonts of Leicestershire Sir Thomas Beaumont's Proceedings against his Clerk, Coleman Escape of the latter from Punishment Death of Sir George Villiers Second Marriage of his Widow (to Sir Thomas Compton) Duel between Compton and Bird Unexampled Rise of Lady Compton' s Son Her own Aggrandisement She is created Countess of Buckingham Advancement of her family Change in the Customs and Appearance of James's Court The Countess banished from the Court Cause of this Influence possessed by the Countess over her all-powerful Son Her Belief in the Tenets of the Church of Rome Polemical Controversy Buckingham's Arrogance to Henrietta Maria Death and Burial of the Countess . . . .177 THOMAS SACKVILLE, EARL OF DORSET. His literary Accomplishments and political Services His poetical Works His wanton Extravagance Cause of his Reforma- tion His sudden Death His Funeral .... 185 ROBERT CECIL, EARL OF SALISBURY. Ilis Genius as a Statesman His Rise in Power, and Elevation to the Earldom of Salisbury His personal Character Lady Derby and Queen Elizabeth Salisbury's Gallantry His Knowledge of King James's Character His Employment of Spies His Secret Correspondence with James during the Life of Elizabeth Critical Incident Salisbury's Account of his Situation as a Favourite His miserable Death Account of his last Sickness by his Chaplain His Funeral at Hatfield 1S1> CONTENTS. Xlll ROBERT CARR, EAKL OF SOMERSET. PAGE Strange Infatuation of James I. Origin of Carr's Advancement His Power at Court He is created Earl of Somerset, and becomes first Minister His intimate Friendship with Sir Thomas Overbury His Popularity His Choice of a Mistress Marriage of the Earl of Essex and Frances Howard The nuptial Mask Separation of the youthful Pair Profligacy of the Bride Lady Essex divorced and Married to Somerset Overbury's Opposition to this Union The Lady's meditated Revenge Over bury committed to the Tower Project to poison him Overbury's Death Somerset's Remorse, and Decline in the Royal Favour His Apprehension for the Murder of Overbury The King's detestable Hypocrisy Execution of Somerset's Accomplices Examination into the Cause of the Murder of Overbury James's Anxiety to get rid of Somerset Examination of the latter by Commissioners James's Letters to Sir George More Trial of Somerset His Condemnation and Sentence Reprieve of himself and his Countess Their full Pardon Interview between the King and Somerset Marriage of Anne, Daughter of Somerset, to the Earl of Bedford Redeeming Trait in the Character of Somerset His Death 198 FRANCES HOWARD, COUHTESS OP SOMERSET. Revolting Character of this Woman The Earl of Suffolk, her Father Her Beauty Her Marriage to the Earl of Essex Character of the Earl The Countess's love for, and clandes- tine Meetings with, Somerset Her Expedients to procure a Divorce Her Agents, Mrs. Turner and Dr. Fonnan, the Astrologer Death of Fonnan Trial and Execution of Mrs. Turner Sir Jervis Elways Trial for Divorce between the Earl and Countess of Essex Arguments for and against the Divorce by King James and the Archbishop of Canterbury Retirement of Essex to Chartley Marriage of the divorced Countess to Somerset Her Trial for the Murder of Overbury Her Appearance in Court Her Sentence Estrangement be- tween her and her Husband Her Death . 229 XIV CONTENTS. HENRY HOWARD, KARL OP NORTHAMPTON. PACK Birth of Henry Howard His Relations His Advancement at Court Prediction of an Italian Astrologer : its Fulfilment Character of the Earl His Share in Overbury's Murder His Letters to Sir Jervis Elways Anomalies of his Nature His Literary Works His Religion Detection of his secret Correspondence with Cardinal Bellarmine His Death His Bequest to the King. ....... 245 MARY, COUNTESS OF PEMBROKE. Relations of this Lady Her Character Her Literary Works Her Death. . ... .254 WILLIAM HERBERT, EARL Of PEMBROKE. Character of this Nobleman His Career at Court His Reception at the Court of Elizabeth His Marriage His Conduct at the Council Chamber of James The King's practical Joke, and Pembroke's Retaliation Quarrel between Pembroke and Sir George Wharton Wood's Description of Pembroke Remarkable Circumstances attending his Decease . . 257 PHILIP HERBERT, EARL OF PEMBROKE AND MONTGOMERY. The Earl's Character King James's Partiality for him His Progress at Court His Appearance at the Court of Elizabeth His Marriage to Lady Susan Vere The Wedding Banquet and Mask Montgomery's Insolence and Cowardice He is Horsewhipped by Ramsey The Earl's Vanity as a Patron of Literature His Second Wife His Political Apostacy Bur- lesque of his Speech to the University of Oxford His Study of Physiognomy His Death 266 CONTENTS. S.V JAMES HAY, EARL OF CARLISLE. PAGE Introduction of this Personage to King James His rapid Rise in the Monarch's Favour His Elevation to the Peerage Family Traditions The Earl's Magnificence Splendour of his Mis- sion to Paris His costly Progress to Germany Dinner pro- vided for him by the Prince of Orange His unsuccessful Missions His Extravagance in Costume Prodigality of his Feasts Ante-suppers Banquet given by the Earl in honour of the French Ambassador First and Second Marriage of the Earl His ruling Passion in Death His Character . . 276 FRANCIS LORD BACOX, VISCOUNT ST. ALBANS. Bacon's Birth His Boyhood His Oratory His Friends Hobbes of Malmsbury Variety of Bacon's Knowledge His superb Manner of Living His Venality Dishonesty of his Servants His Humiliation before his Peers His Retort to Gondomar Remark of Charles Prince of Wales Bacon's Ingratitude to the Earl of Essex False Aspersions cast on his Name His comparative Poverty- --Anecdotes Bacon's personal Appear- ance Anecdotes Celebration of Bacon's Sixtieth Birth-day Ben Jonson's Verses on the Occasion Bacon's Death Howell's Remarks on the Event. 286 EDWARD LORD HERBERT OP CHERBUHT. Autobiography of this Nobleman He is sent Ambassador to Paris Created Lord Herbert His Marriage His first Appearance before Queen Elizabeth He is invested with the Order of the Bath Spirit of Knight-errantry in the days of James Anecdotes Quarrel between Lord Herbert and the Constable de Luines Herbert's Personal Appearance His Poetry* Contradictions in his Character Extraordinary Instance of Vanity and Inconsistency His last Illness and serene Death Horace Walpole's Estimate of his Character . . . 299 XVI CONTENTS. ARCHEE, THE COURT FOOL. PAGE Use and Importance in former Days of the Office of Royal Fool Character of Archibald Armstrong, King James's Jester His witty Sayings His Success at Madrid His Feud with Archbishop Laud His Dismissal from Court His Retire- ment after his Disgrace His Gallantry 311 CHARLES I. CHAPTER IX. Public Character of Charles the First His domestic Virtnes Political Features of the Period Infancy and Baptism of Charles Pageant on his being created Duke of York His physical Infirmities Placed nnder the Tuition of Murray Anecdotes of Charles and Prince Henry Juvenile Letters of Charles Created Prince of Wales His Progress in theological Knowledge His general Accomplishments, and Prowess in Tilting Projected Match between Charles and Mary of Spain Intended Journey of Charles to Madrid His Father's Feelings on the subject, and Buckingham's haughty Violence Interview between the King and Sir Francis Cottington Advice of the latter as to Charles's Journey to Spain Buckingham's Anger . 317 CHAPTER X. Charles and Buckingham, in disguise, set out on the Journey to Spain Arrival at Boulogne Court Ball at Paris The Prince in danger of being arrested at Bayonne Arrival at Madrid Reception of Charles by the King Rejoicings at Madrid Magnificent Conduct of Philip the Fourth Reception of Charles by the Queen Scene on the Prado, when Charles first saw the Infanta Restricted Intercourse between Charles and the Infanta Charles's romantic Affection for her Magnificent Presents to the Spanish Ladies Letters from Zing James to his Son, and Buckingham Their Prodigality Hopes entertained by the Spaniards of the Prince's Con- version to the Spanish Faith Letters from the Pope to Charles Aversion of the People of England to the Spanish Match The Spanish Treaty James's Meanness in allowing the Spanish King to dictate to him 330 CONTENTS. XV11 CHAPTER XL PAOK Ring James the Dupe of Spanish Policy Duplicity of Philip the Third Arrival from Rome of the Dispensation respecting the Infanta's projected Marriage with Charles New Difficulties Concessions on the part of James and the Prince Charles's Departure from Spain, and Narrow Escape at Sea His Arrival at Portsmouth and enthusiastic Reception in London The Infanta's Attachment to Charles, and her Feelings on his Departure The Match finally broken off ... 351 CHAPTER XII. Charles proclaimed King Base Accusations against Charles- Curious Omens Private Vows made by Charles The Sortes Yirgilianse Treaty of Marriage between Charles and Henrietta Maria of France Deed of Dispensation Solem- nisation of the Marriage Arrival of the Queen Influence of Henrietta over her Husband The Queen subjected to humiliating Penances Ecclesiastical Retinue of the Queen Insulting Conduct of the Foreign Priests The French Retinue ordered by Charles to quit the Kingdom Interview between the King and Marshal de Bassompierre Presumption of Madame St. George Henrietta's passionate Conduct on the Departure of her Favourites Contumacy of the Foreigners Their Expulsion from Somerset House, and Embarkation at Dover . 361 CHAPTER XIIL Charles's Liberality to the Queen's French Attendants Their Attempt at Extortion Misunderstandings between Charles and his Queen Accusations against the conjugal Faith of Charles Letter from him to the Duke of Buckingham The White King Strict Decorum of Charles's Court Magnificent Entertainments Patrician Actors Charles's Exaction of Court Etiquette His unconciliating Manners His Learning and Accomplishments Kis Respect for Literature His Lov D of the Arts Sale of his Magnificent Collection b XVU1 CONTENTS. CHAPTER XIV. PAOK Charles at the Battle of Naseby His Flight from Oxford His Arrival at Newark, and ungracious Reception by the Scottish Army Treachery of the Scots Imprisonment of Charles at Holmby His Amusements there Charles and Major Bosville The King is denied all Intercourse with the Ministers of his own Church, and deprived of his Attendants His health and Diet Insolence of Cornet Joyce Removal of the King from Holmby His Reception at Childerley Professions of Fidelity by Cromwell and Fairfax Charles's Arrival at his Palace at Newmarket Freed from the annoying Attentions of Joyce The King's Interview with his Children The Bowling-green at Whit-church Arrival of Charles at Hampton Court His Court there Secret Compact between him and Cromwell Morrice's Story of the Letter in the Saddle Interview at Sion House between Charles and his Children His Advice to them . 400 CHAPTER XV. The King's Flight from Hampton Court Ashburnham's "Fatal Mistake" Charles proceeds in custody to the Isle of Wight Colonel Whaley's Account of the Discovery of the King's Escape from Hampton Court The King's Arrival at Cowes Singular Omen Arrival at Carisbrook Dismissal of the King's Chaplains and Servants Captain Burley's rash Attempt His barbarous Execution The King's Removal to Newport Anecdotes Melancholy Change in the Appearance of Charles Projects for his Escape from Carisbrook Fruitless Attempts 421 CHAPTER XVI. Charles's Observation on parting with the Commissioners The King's Refusal to break his Parole His Departure from Newport Hurst Castle and its grim Captain The King's Confinement there Midnight Visit of Major Harrison Removal of the King Loyalty of the People of Winchester Lord Newburgh's Scheme for the King's Escape Treatment CONTENTS. XIX PAOI of Charles at "Windsor Announcement to him of a Public Trial His departure from Windsor Military Cavalcade con- ducting the King to London His Arrival at St. James's His Treatment there Discontinuance of all State Ceremony The King's Sufferings at this Period Ashburnham's futile Project for the King's Escape Proclamation of his approach- ing Trial He is conveyed to Cotton House, and summoned to attend his Trial Appearance of "Westminster Hall on that Occasion Bradshaw, the President, in danger of Assassination Demeanour of Charles when conducted to the Bar Daring Conduct of Lady Fairfax Charles's Denial of the Authority of the Court Bradshaw's brutal Behaviour Indignities heaped on Charles An evil Omen Bradshaw and his "Wife on the Morning of the last Day of the King's Trial Sentence- of Death pronounced Its Effect on Charles Bradshaw prohibits the King from speaking Insulting Conduct of the Soldiers Public Sympathy Removal of Charles to St. James's . . 43G CHAPTER XTII. Charles's Dignity and Fortitude in his Last Hours His Preparation for Death, Herbert's Mission to Lady Wheeler The King's Farewell Interview with his Children The Fatal Morning The King's Bequests His Devotions His Progress from St. James's to the Scaffold His Arrival at Whitehall The Summons to Execution . . . 457 CHAPTER XVIII. The exact Spot where Charles was Beheaded Last Moments of the Monarch The Execution Horror of the Spectators Cromwell gazing on the King's Corpse General Sorrow on the Death of Charles Homage paid to his Memory by his Enemies Lines by the Marquis of Montrose The King's Executioner The Body taken to Windsor The Royal Obsequies in St. George's Chapel Doubts formerly existing- respecting the real Burial-place of Charles Sir Henry Haliord's Account of the opening of King Charles's Coffin in 1813. The Kings Children . .... 466 LIST OF PLATES. VOL. I. KING JAMES THE FIEST .... FRONTISPIECE CHARLES HOWARD, FIRST EARL OF NOTTINGHAM . 43 JAMES, MARQUIS OF HAMILTON 96 HENRY, PRINCE OF WALES 118 ELIZABETH, 'QUEEN OF BOHEMIA . . . .143 LADY ARABELLA STUART 161 LODOWICK STUART, DUKE OF RICHMOND . . .171 FRANCES HOWARD, DUCHESS OF RICHMOND . . . 173 ROBERT CECIL, EARL OF SALISBURY . . . .189 HENRY HOWARD, EARL OF NORTHAMPTON . . . -245 MARY SIDNEY, COUNTESS OF PEMBROKE . . .254 WILLIAM HERBERT, EARL OF PEMBROKE . . . 257 PHILIP HERBERT, EARL OF PEMBROKE AND MONT- GOMERY 266 CHARLES THE FIRST 317 GEORGE DIGBY, EARL OF BRISTOL . . . .360 JAMES, DUKE OF HAMILTON 445 MEMOIRS ooiroxBHnra THE REIGN OF THE STUARTS. JAMES I. CHAPTER I. Reign of James the First Unwarlike Character of that Monarch Untimely Ends of his Ancestors Advancement in Parliamentary Liberty Room in which James the First was born Misfortunes of Mary Stuart Reception by Queen Elizabeth of the News of James's Birth Baptism of James Queen Mary's Imprudence Coronation of the Royal Infant James and his Tutor, Buchanan. THE reign of James the First is eminently deficient in matters of stirring and general interest. A timid prince, a people not discontented, a long peace abroad, and a tolerably submissive parliament at home, supply but meagre materials to the historian. It is not, therefore, too much to ezpect, that, in the private history of the individual, in the manners of the time, and the intrigues of the court, some slight compensation may be found for the absence of more important events. The peaceable career of James, and his unwarlike character, are the more remarkable, when we reflect on the eventful history of the unhappy and turbulent race Z JAMES I. from whence he sprang. "With the Stuarts, misfortune had been hereditary. For six generations, his immediate ancestors, with the single exception of a broken heart, had met with violent and untimely ends. His mother had suffered on the scaffold, and his father fell by the hand of an assassin ; and it is singular that James should have stood between two crowned heads, his mother and his heir, who were the first and almost only instances in modern times, of the sovereign suffering by the hands of the executioner. It would appear indeed as if Providence conferred a peculiar blessing on the peace-maker. His ancestors, fond of war and familiar with bloodshed, had with difficulty retained possession of their birthrights, while James, who even shuddered at the sight of a drawn sword, became master of a kingdom threefold the value of his inheritance. We must remember, however, that, in James, the love of peace was less the effect of principle than of constitutional infirmity. The slight differences which occurred during this reign to ruffle the quiet tenor of public feeling, arose almost entirely from subjects of a religious or parliamentary nature. It was solely the fault of James that his career at home was not in every respect as peaceable as it was abroad. His endeavours to encroach on public liberty caused, in a great degree, the opposition of his parlia- ment ; his attempts to conciliate all parties, in matters of religion, ended in his satisfying none. The great source of interest which his reign produces, is derived from the gradual advances which were effected in parlia- mentary liberty. With little to engage their attention abroad, the commons began to be jealous of their privi- leges, and the nation at large of its rights ; these are the circumstances which throw a peculiar, and almost the eole political interest over the reign of James. James JAMES I. 3 bad really less of the despot in him than Elizabeth ; but the nation could bear the golden chains of the one, while it contemned the clumsy fetters of the other. James the First was born in Edinburgh castle, 19th June, 1566. The apartment in which he first saw the light was, within the last few years, and probably still is, a guard-room for soldiers. In those who are influenced by local associations, that apartment will probably ever excite no slight degree of interest ; less, perhaps, as the birth- place of James, than as being identified with the sorrows of Mary Stuart. The clouds of misfortune had gathered fast around that beautiful but imprudent woman. She had irretrievably disgusted her nobility by her impolitic preference of the arrogant Italian Rizzio, and her people by her open exercise of the Romish faith ; while, at the same time, her misunderstandings with her husband, the weak and showy Lord Darnley, had produced posi- tive hatred and consequent misery on both sides. The ministers of the Puritan, or Eeformed Church, were constantly intruding themselves on her presence, and promulgating their rebellious tenets among her subjects ; and, within a very short period, the blood of her favourite servant Eizzio had been actually shed before her face a remarkable scene of violence, when we consider that her own husband, who ought to have been the first to cherish the wife who was shortly to become a mother, and the Lord Chancellor, who should have been foremost to pro- tect the laws and the person of his Queen, were the principal actors in that detestable outrage. The Queen and the Puritan clergy were equally anxious to baptise the heir to the throne, according to the ceremonials of their respective faiths. An Assembly of the Church, which happened to be convened at Edin- burgh at the time, while they sent to congratulate the B 2 4 JAMES I. unfortunate mother, expressed their great solicitude on the subject. The Superintendent of Lothian, a man of a milder nature than his fellows, was their delegate on the occasion. Mary received him with her usual sweetness, but returned no answer as regarded the principal object of his mission. She sent, however, for the royal infant in order to introduce the Superintendent to his future king. The minister fell on his knees and breathed a short prayer for his welfare. He then took the babe in his arms and playfully told him to say amen for himself, which the Queen, says Archbishop Spotswood, "took in such good part as continually afterwards to call the Superintendent her Amen." This story, in after life, was repeated to James, who, from that period, always addressed the Superintendent by the same familiar name.* Immediately after the birth of the prince, Sir James Melvil was despatched by Mary to convey the intelligence to her sister, the Queen of England. The account which Melvil gives of this mission is perhaps the most amusing part of his Memoirs. Elizabeth was in high spirits, enjoying herself at a ball at Greenwich, when the event was announced to her. Notwithstanding her habitual self-command, and the fact that the unwelcome event must have been long foreseen, the jealous feelings of the woman prevailed, and her chagrin was but too evident. The dancing instantly ceased : the Queen sat down in her chair, leaned her head upon her hand, and remained for some time speechless. " The Queen of Scots," she said to one of her ladies who inquired the cause of her melan- choly, " is the mother of a fair son, while I am but a barren stock." She did not fail, however, to call dis- simulation to her aid. The next morning, when Melvil received his audience, she appeared gayer and better * Spotswood's History of the Church of Scotland, p. 196. JAMES I. 5 dressed than usual ; and, though she deceived no one but herself, expressed the sincerest affection for the Queen of Scots, and joy at her happy delivery. The innocent cause of this jealousy was baptised at Stirling, 17th December, 1566, by the Bishop of St. Andrews, according to the rites of the Romish Church. Such of the Scottish nobles as professed the Reformed Religion absented themselves from the ceremony. His godfathers were Charles the Ninth, King of France, and Philibert, Duke of Savoy ; Elizabeth consented to be his godmother, and by her representative, the Earl of Bedford, sent a present of a golden font, valued at three thousand crowns. After the conclusion of the ceremony, the young prince was publicly proclaimed by the hereditary titles of Prince and Steward of Scotland, Duke of Rothsay, Earl of Carrick, Lord of the Isles, and Baron of Renfrew. According to Sir Theodore Mayerne, who subsequently became the physician of James, the wet nurse of the young Prince was a drunkard, and it was owing to her milk becoming thus vitiated, that, though early weaned, he was unable to walk alone before his sixth year.* The birth of an heir to the throne ought not only to have added to Mary's influence at home ; but, with proper management, Elizabeth might have been forced to acknowledge her as her successor to the crown of England. Nothing, however, could exceed Mary's egregious imprudence at this period. "Within the short space of two years, the greater number of those incidents occurred which have thrown so much ot fearful, yet romantic, interest over her history. The murder of her husband, and her consequent marriage with Bothwell; the insurrection of Lord Hume; her Ellis, Orig. Letters, voL Hi., p. 198, Second Series. 6 JAMES I. confinement and forced abdication at Lochleven ; her romantic escape from that fortress ; the battle of Lang- side ; and her flight into England are all included in that period, and closed every hope of her again enjoy- ing the sovereign dignity. In order to weaken her remaining influence still more, and to strengthen the claims of her son, it was decided that the young prince, though only thirteen months old, should be solemnly crowned in her stead. The inauguration of the royal baby was performed at Stirling by the Bishop of Orkney, 29th July, 1567. The coronation sermon was preached by the celebrated John Knox ; and the oaths, that he should maintain the Eeformed Religion, and administer equal justice, were somewhat unscrupulously taken by the Earl of Morton and Lord Home.* Soon after the ceremony, the republican party, whose hopes were natu- rally elated by the events which were taking place, caused a coin to be struck, on which was inscribed the well-known motto of Trajan: Pro me ; si merear, in me. 11 For me ; and if I deserve it, against me." James was a pedant even when a boy. His tutor, the famous historian Buchanan, though he communicated to him a portion of his learning, was able to impart but little of his own elegant taste to his royal pupil. In the treatment of his charge, he appears not only to have been laudably uninfluenced by rank and circumstance, but to have behaved himself towards James as the most rigid disciplinarian. On one occasion the young King was engaged in some boisterous sport, with his playfellow the Master of Erskine, at a time when Buchanan was deeply engaged in his studies. The tutor was annoyed, and declared that he would administer a sound flogging if the interruption continued. James announced stoutly that * Spotswood, p. 211. JAMES I. 7 he should like to see who mould ~bell the cat ; at which the tutor started up, threw away his book, and performed the threatened chastisement most effectually. The Countess of Mar,* hearing the King's cries, rushed into the apartment, and catching the boy in her arms, inquired authoritatively of Buchanan, how he dared to touch the Lord's anointed ? " Madam," replied the imperturbable tutor, I have whipped his Majesty's , and you may kiss it if you please.f To his playfellow, the young Earl of Mar, James ever continued his regard. The Earl after- wards became enamoured of Mary Stuart, daughter of Esme Duke of Lennox, and on her rejecting him, became the victim of despondency, and fell seriously ill. " By my saul," said James, " Mar shanna dee for e'er a lass in the land ! " Accordingly he interfered in favour of his early companion, and Lady Mary eventually became his wife, and the mother of his children. Such an impression had Buchanan's discipline produced on the mind of James, that many years afterwards, when King of England, the miseries of his tutelage, and the austerity of his old master, continued vividly to haunt his imagination. He used to say of a certain person about his court, that he trembled at his approach, "he reminded him so of his pedagogue." J And on another occasion, he is described as dreadfully agitated by the appearance of his former corrector in a dream, and as vainly endea- vouring to soften the fanciful displeasure which he had incurred. These are curious illustrations of the inde- pendence of mind in the one, and the constitutional * Lady Annabella Murray, daughter of Sir William Tullibardine, and wife of John Erskine, twenty-second Earl of Mar. She was nurse to King James, who afterwards entrusted his son, Prince Henry, to her charge. + Lord Somers's Tracts, vol. ii. p. 227. Osborne's Advice to his Son. Curiosities of Literature, voL iii. p. 259. 8 JAMLS I. timidity of tlie other. It may be observed that, in his writings, James more than once speaks slightingly, and even acrimoniously, of his old tutor. The elegant Buchanan was far from satisfied with the mere progress which his pupil had made in classical and theological learning. At a certain audience, which was given by James to a foreign Ambassador in his boyhood, it was found necessary that the conversation should take place in Latin. The foreigner happened to be guilty of several grammatical errors, in every one of which James, with equal pedantry and ill-breeding, thought proper to set him right. The Ambassador accidentally meeting Buchanan, after the audience was at an end, inquired of him how he came to make his illustrious pupil a pedant. " I was happy," said the historian, " to be able to accomplish even that." * * Add. MSS. Brit. Museum. CHAPTER IT. James's first Speech to his Parliament His Aversion to Business His lukewarm Interposition with Elizabeth on Behalf of his Mother His Selfishness His pusillanimous Indifference at the Death of his Mother Cavalier Treatment of James by the Scottish Clergy His Subserviency to the Puritan Priesthood Anecdote James's Taste for personal Allusions in the Pulpit Treaty of Marriage between James and Anne of Denmark Delay in the Arrival of his Bride His Voyage to Norway in order to conduct her home Strange Document The Marriage Visit to the Court of Denmark Return to Edinburgh Coronation of the Queen. IN his thirteenth year James began to interfere with affairs of state, and met his Parliament for the first time. He said a great deal respecting the benefits of peace, and expressed his anxiety to maintain the interests of the Reformed Religion, and to remedy public grievances.* Probably, young as he was, James had some hand, if not in the composition of, at least in the matters to be dis- cussed in, this juvenile oration. At all events, it is curious to find him commencing his first speech with the subject of peace; a principle and a topic on which he acted and harped to the last. He showed his aversion to business at a very early age ; so much so, that he was in the habit of signing whatever papers were brought to him, without either reading or making himself acquainted with their con- tents. To correct this pernicious habit, his tutor Buchanan adopted the following scheme : One day, when the young King was preparing to set out on a * Sanderson, p. 92. 10 JAMES I. hunting excursion, he placed before him a document con- taining a formal abdication of his kingdom. It was signed, as usual, without inquiry into its purport. On the return of James in the evening, Buchanan produced the paper, and pointed out its contents. At the sight of what he had done, the King burst into tears. Buchanan comforted him by throwing the document into the fire ; at the same time seizing the opportunity of enlarging on the injustice which he might be guilty of to others, as well as to himself, should he hereafter persist in so indolent and injurious a practice.* James's tears at this period seemed to have been easily brought to his assistance. When, in 1582, in his seventeenth year, his person was seized at Ruthven by the rebel lords, his first impulse was to weep. "No matter for his tears," said the Master of Grlamis; "it is better that boys should weep than bearded men." f From a person who felt his own griefs so deeply, we can scarcely expect much sympathy with the sufferings of others. His cold indifference at his mother's death can never be sufficiently reprobated. Of an age when the best feelings of our nature are generally warmest in the heart ; with a chivalrous nobility urging him to avenge the unparalleled indignity which had been offered both to himself and his country ; with the means of obtaining powerful foreign aid both from France and Spain,J James, with the exception of some slight bluster- ing (arising less from any feeling which he entertained for his mother's dreadful situation, than from the appre- hension that her death on the scaffold would interfere * Peyton's Divine Catastrophe, in Secret Hist, of James I. vol. ii. p. 330. t Spotswood, p. 320. J There is also reason to suppose that the King of Denmark, -with whose daughter a treaty of marriage had already been set on foot, would have supplied James with ships. Sanderson, p. 134. JAMES I. 11 with his own prospects), submitted tamely to his own dishonour, and the ignominious execution of his only parent. James was probably in a great degree influenced by his love of peace, nor can there be a question that, as a matter of mere policy, he acted wisely in not breaking with Elizabeth ; but on so sacred a subject there are few who would prefer the cold dictates of interest to the common impulse of natural affection. Moreover, James had a pension to lose, and a kingdom in prospectu. On learning that his mother's death was fully agreed upon, and that her days were numbered, we find him contenting himself with sending to the principal Divines to desire that they would pray for her in their churches. It is an undoubted fact, that the Master of Gray, James's accredited agent to intercede with Elizabeth for his mother's life, but who was entirely in the interests of the English Queen, if he were not actually in her pay, gave private intimation to the English ministry, that if Mary's execution would not be allowed to pre- judice James's expectations to the English throne, " her death would be forgotten."* The Master of Gray after- wards confessed before the Scottish council, that he had, in fact, advised the Queen of England to take away the life of her rival ; recommending, only, that she should be made away with by some underhand means, instead of by a public execution. He acknowledged, also, that he had made use of the significant words, Mortui non mordent. " The dead do not bite." He was sentenced to banish- ment ; a decision much cavilled at, at the time, for its extreme leniency .f The ruling and obstinate idea which occupied the mind of James, was an apprehension lest the manner of his mother's death should prove a bar to his own succession * Spoiswood, p. 355. t Ibid., p. 363. 12 JAMES I. to the English throne. It was this selfish fear, and not the affront to his feelings or his diadem, which we find the English ministers most anxious to combat. Even previous to the death of the unhappy Mary, the Earl of Leicester, probably by Elizabeth's directions, addressed a letter to James, in which, though clothed in the most Jesuitical language, he points out the worldly advantages which would accrue to him by submitting quietly to his mother's execution, and even indirectly asks his concur- rence. To any other monarch but James, the insolence and bad taste of such an epistle would have been into- lerable. " She is the person and Prince in this world," says the Earl, speaking of Elizabeth, " that may do you most good or most harm ; let no persuasion or desire let you think otherwise."* And again Lord Hunsdon writes to him after the fatal blow had been struck, offering to procure a declaration, signed by all the judges in England, that the execution of his mother could in no way interfere with his legitimate claims. "We are informed, though the authority is questionable, that when Henry the Fourth sent his ambassador Sully to James, inviting him to join with him against Elizabeth, by which means he might satisfy his revenge, the young King answered that he was unwilling to fall out with the Queen of England, for his mother's death had left him more secure on his throne than ever.f The Scottish nobles were greatly disgusted at the indifference of their young Prince. Instead of appearing in mourning, as had been ordered by the King, Lord Sinclair presented himself at court in full armour, as the garb best suited to the occasion.:}; * Spotsrvrood, p. 353. f Divine Catastrophe of the House of Stuart. Lord Somers's Tracts, voL i. p. 239. JAMES I. 13 It has been already remarked that, in his mother's extremity, James had applied to the principal ministers of religion to remember her in their prayers. This order, with the exception of his own chaplains, and a Mr. David Lindsay, the minister at Leith, was universally disobeyed. James indeed was treated quite as cavalierly by the Scottish clergy (and stood just as much in awe of them) as by his nobility. The following anecdote is highly characteristic of his subserviency to the Puritan priest- hood, and of the pulpit familiarity which was permitted at the time. James had fixed on a particular day, on which prayers were to be offered up for his unfortunate mother in the several churches, and had selected the Bishop of St. Andrews to officiate in his own presence on the occasion. As soon as this order become known to the principal oppositionists, they induced a young man, a Mr. John Cowper, to ascend the pulpit, and to forestall the Bishop in the performance of the service of the day. The King, says Archbishop Spotswood, seeing Cowper in the place, called to him from his seat, and said, " Mr. John, that seat was destined for another ; yet since you are there, if you will obey the charge that is given, and remember my mother in your prayers, you shall go on." Cowper replying that he would do as the Spirit of God should direct him, was commanded to leave the place. This order he showed no inclination to obey : accordingly the captain of the guard proceeded to pull him out ; on which he burst forth as follows : " This day shall be a witness against the king, in the great day of the Lord," and then denouncing a woe to the inhabitants of Edin- burgh, he went down, and the Bishop of St. Andrews performed the duty.* James was, to a certain degree, indebted for these * Spotswood, p. 354 ; Sanderson, p. 120 14 JAilES I. insults to the discussion of familiar subjects, and the personal allusions which he himself encouraged in the pulpit. This taste continued to the last period of his life ; nor was he ever known to be displeased as long as the preacher hit his courtiers somewhat harder than himself. Even when seated on the English throne, a conscientious, or perhaps discontented, clergyman would occasionally proceed to such lengths as to keep the courtiers in continual alarm, lest anything disagreeable to the King, or injurious to their own interests, should transpire. On these occasions they distracted his Majesty's attention by the best means in their power. A jest well introduced, or a facetious remark, seldom failed in such an emergency. Among those who were best acquainted with James's character, and who thus pandered to his amusement, was Neile, Bishop of Lincoln, and afterwards Archbishop of York.* This prelate was constantly at James's side, and whenever anything was uttered, especially from the pulpit, which he was unwil- ling should meet the royal ear, diverted the King's attention by some " merry tale." Arthur Wilson was himself present at a sermon which was preached before James at Greenwich, when the following remarkable scene took place. The preacher, one of the royal * Richard Neile, the son of a tallow-chandler, was born in King- street, Westminster. He rose, by a rapid gradation of preferment, to be Master of the Savoy, Dean of Westminster, and successively, Bishop of Rochester, Litchfield and Coventry, Lincoln, Durham, Winchester, and Archbishop of York. Both Prynne and Wilson accuse him of Arminianism, but his orthodoxy is defended by Laud. "He died," says Anthony Wood, " as full of years as he was of honours, an affectionate subject to his Prince, an indulgent father to his clergy, a bountiful patron to his chaplains, and a true friend to all who relied upon him." He was buried in Westminster Abbey. Fasti Oxoniensis, vol. L p. 159. JAMES I. 15 chaplains, selected for his text, Matt. iv. 8, 9. " Again the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and showeth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them ; and saith unto him, ' all these things will I give,' " &c. He first proceeded to demonstrate the power of the devil at that period ; he then brought his kingdom down to the present time, expressing his belief that, as the devil was in possession of such large dominions, there could be no doubt but that he had his viceroys, coun- cillors of state, treasurers, secretaries, &c. This gave him an opportunity of attributing the several vices, of which James's advisers were accused, to the ministers of his Satanic majesty, and portraying their characters accordingly. At last he came to the devil's treasurer, when he fixed his eyes on Lord Cranfield, a man notorious for his exactions, and lord treasurer at the time, and pointing at him with his hand, exclaimed in an emphatic manner, "That man," (repeating the words,) "that man, who makes himself rich and his master poor, is a fit treasurer for the devil." Cranfield all this time sat with his hat over his eyes, ashamed to look up ; while James, who was placed above him, sat smiling, like a mischievous school-boy, at his minister's discomfiture. A treaty of marriage between James and Anne, daughter of Frederick, King of Denmark, had been set on foot as early as the year 1585, though not fully con- cluded till 1587. The death of the Danish king in this latter year still further delayed the completion of the marriage. "When the match with Denmark was first proposed to James, he is said to have displayed the grossest ignorance as to the history and respectability of that country, and to have objected to the alliance on the ground of the unworthiness of that kingdom to furnish 10 JAMES I. him with a consort.* Everything, however, was at length settled. The marriage ceremony had been performed in Denmark, by proxy, on the 20th of August, 1589, and James was anxiously expecting the arrival of his bride, when he received the news that she had been driven on the coast of Norway, and had determined to defer her voyage till the spring. It is amusing to discover a solemn historian of the period gravely attributing these delays to the machinations of witches. One Agnes Simson, " a matron of a grave and settled behaviour," actually confessed, that, at the instigation of the Earl of Bothwell, she had applied to her familiar spirit, (whom she was in the habit of invoking by the words holla, Master?) to take away the King's life. The demon, she said, informed her, that on this occasion his powers had failed him ; giving her his reasons in French, a language of which she was ignorant, though she was able to repeat the actual words of the spirit il est homme deDieu;^ a com- pliment to James, which he, no doubt, fully appreciated. Notwithstanding the powers of witchcraft, and the terrors of the sea, of which latter James stood greatly in awe, he was so eager to behold his future consort as to determine on proceeding in person to Norway for the purpose of conducting her home ; J the only act of * Melvil, p. 164. It is possible that James's objections might have arisen from the Crown of Denmark being elective. f Sanderson, p. 159. J The interest which he took in the approaching ceremony is dis- coverable by a letter which he addressed to Lord Burghley, and which is still preserved among the Lansdown MSS. In this epistle he par- ticularly recommends to his lordship's favour some merchants whom he has sent to London to purchase dresses for the interesting occasion. RIGHT TRUSTY AND WELL-BELOVED, We greet you heartily well. Having directed the bearers, Robert Jowsie and Thomas Fenlis, merchants of Edinburgh, toward London for JAMES I. 17 gallantry on his part which history has been able to record. Previously, however, to leaving Scotland, he thought proper to indite, for the satisfaction of his subjects, and as an apology for his own morals and matrimonial projects, one of the most singular manifestos which has been ever published by royal authority. This document was written entirely in the King's own hand, and deposited with the Clerk of Register, who, according to directions he had previously received, presented it to the Council the day after the King had set sail; the royal intentions having been kept as profound a secret as was possible. In this strange document James mingles, in the quaintest manner, a defence of his powers of continence with that of his fitness for the marriage state ; as if the public had anything to do with such matters. Alluding to the circumstances by which his marriage had been deferred, he thus proceeds : " My long delay bred in the breasts of many a great jealousy of my inability, as if I were a barren stock ; these buying and provision of certain abulzementis and other ornaments requisite for decoration of our marriage, we have taken occasion to recommend them to your great courtesy, heartily requesting and desiring you to interpose your good will and mind to their expedition, and furtherance in that concern, so that they be in no wise interrupted nor hindered in the performance and execution thereof, but may receive quick and hasty despatch ; as ye will report our right special and hearty thanks and do us acceptable pleasure. Thus we commit you to God's good protection. From the Canonry of Ros the 19th day of July, 1589. Your loving friend, JAMES R. I pray you further this .... read ; it is on an extraordinary occasion. To our right trusty and well-beloved The Lord of Burghley, Great Treasurer of England.* * Ellis, Orig. Letters, vol. iii. 29. VOL. I. ]3 JAMES T. reasons and innumerable others hourly objected, moved me to hasten the treaty of my marriage ; for, as to my own nature, God is my witness I could have abstained longer, nor the well of my patrie could have permitted. I am known, God be praised, not to be very intemperately rash nor concety in my weightiest affairs, neither use I to be so carried away with passion, as I refused to hear reason." Again, alluding to the popular belief that he was entirely governed by his Chancellor, he thus childishly continues : "I kept it " (his project of joining the Queen) " generally close from all men ; so I say, upon mine honour, I kept it so from the Chancellor, as I was never wont to do any secrets of my weightiest affairs, two reasons moving me thereto, first, because I know that if I made him on the council thereof, he had been blamed of putting it in my head, which had not been his duty, for it becomes no subjects to give princes advice in such matters ; and therefore, remembering that envious and unjust burding he daily bears, of leading me by the nose, as it were, to all his appetites, as if I were an unreasonable creature, or a bairn that could do nothing of myself, I thought it pity to be the occasion of the heaping of further unjust slander upon his head." * James set sail, October 22nd, 1589, and on the 28th landed at Slaikray, in Norway. His dread of the sea is mentioned by more than one writer, and in his fare- well manifesto he himself alludes to his anxiety on the * Spotswood, p. 378. An ancient abridgment of the Records of the Scottish Privy Council, from the year 1562 to 1684, which also contained thete remarkable passages, was in the possession of the Boswells of Aachinlech, and was published by Sir Alexander Boswell, in the notes to his poem of "Clan -Alpine's Vow." See Secret History of the Court of James I., voL ii. p. 331. Edinb. 1811. JAMES I. 19 subject : " As for my part, what moved me, ye may judge by that which I have already said, besides the shortness of the way, the surety of the passage being clear of all sands, forelands, or such like dangers; the harbours in these parts so sure, and no foreign fleets resorting upon these seas." About five weeks after their marriage, James proceeded with his bride to pay a visit to the Court of Denmark ; where he remained during the winter, nor did he return to his dominions till May Day, 1590. During his stay in Denmark he constantly attended the courts of law, with the object of obtaining an insight into the legislature of that country ; he afterwards, according to Daines Barrington, added to the Scottish law three statutes for the punishment of criminals, which he had borrowed from the Danish Code.* The day following the arrival of the royal party in Edinburgh, the Council met for the purpose of fixing a day for the Queen's coronation. There happened to be no Bishop in Edinburgh at the time, and the clergyman, whom James had honoured by selecting him to perform the office, positively refused to officiate, unless the ceremony of unction, which he asserted to be Papistical and of Jewish origin, were omitted. James was obstinate on the subject, and so was the clergyman, who, moreover, was supported in his opposition by the principal Puritan ministers. The consequence was, that a very learned discussion was carried on between James and the Church, in which, as regarded controversial skill and theological knowledge, the King certainly proved his superiority. It was only, however, by threatening that he would wait the arrival of a Bishop, that a divine, Andrew Melvil, * D'Israeli's Enquiry into the Literary and Political Character of James I., p. 216. c 2 20 JAMES I. rather than that the ceremony should be Episcopalian, consented to perform it as the King wished.* The Court put forth its rude splendour on this occasion. There was a succession of banquets and masks, and the rejoicings lasted for two months. * Spotswood, p. 380, CHAPTER III. The Gowrie Conspiracy The suspected Conspirators Details relative to the supposed Attempt on James's Life Execution of the Eetainers of the Gowxies Investigation of the Affair Confiscation of the Estates of the deceased EarL THE Gowrie conspiracy, by which we are to under- stand the real or pretended attempt on the life of James, by the Earl of Gowrie and his brother, Alexander Ruthven, is too memorable and too mysterious an event to be passed over in silence. "We must recollect, that it has not to this day been clearly ascertained, whether there were really a treasonable intention on the part of Gowrie, or whether the plot were not altogether a specious contrivance of the King, in order to get rid of a dangerous subject. The suspected conspirators were the sons of that Earl of Gowrie, who had been executed some years pre- viously for seizing James's person at Euthven. Soon after his father's death, the young Earl had permission to travel abroad, and it is said that, at Padua, he adopted an heraldic device on which were a hand and a sword aiming at a crown. There is another story, that, when at Orleans, a fortune-teller predicted to him, that he should become melancholy from the effect of love, that he should be possessed of great power, and that he should die by the sword.* On his way home he paid a visit to the court of Elizabeth, on which occasion he is * Sanderson, p. 223. 22 JAMES I. said to have fixed his affections on the unfortunate Arabella Stuart. James, who had previously restored him to his father's honours and estate, received him with much kindness on his return : his brother Alexander he made a gentleman of the bed-chamber, and on their sister he conferred one of the principal posts about the Queen.* The character of the Earl has been drawn according to the political prejudices of the different writers. By one party he is described as proud, insolent, and ambitious ; by the other as amiable, kind-hearted, and strictly disposed to the duties of religion. At the time of the plot he had only just completed his twenty-first year, while his brother was but nineteen. Previous to fixing a crime on a suspected person, the first step is to investigate the motive which he might have had in view. In the present instance two inducements have been mentioned, the desire to revenge the death of a father, and the hope of supplanting James on the throne. The first of these suppositions clearly loses its weight from the fact, that the late Earl had been put to death during the minority of the King, who could therefore have had no voice on the occasion. With regard to the second deduction, it appears, to say the least, extremely improbable, that so very young a man, without any adequate force, and without the remotest probability of ultimate success, should have been rash enough to embark in so hazardous an enterprise. The circum- stances, as regard the supposed attempt on James's person, are commonly related as follows : The "King was residing at Falkland for the purpose of indulging in his favourite sport of hunting, and, on the morning of 5th August, 1600, was sallying * Spotevrood, p. 457. JAMES I. 23 forth with his hounds, when Alexander Ruth veil, looking pale and agitated, rode up to his Majesty, with the information that a person, supposed to be a Jesuit, and having a large amount of foreign gold about him, had been intercepted by his brother Lord Gowrie. To this intelligence he added a request, that the King would ride to his brother's residence at Perth, by which means he expressed his belief that some important secrets might be extracted from the suspected person. From what we know of James's character, this part of the story certainly carries with it an air of truth. Such an investigation was exactly suitable to the King's tastes, for he peculiarly prided himself on his talent for cross- examination and his ingenuity in eliciting the truth ; besides, the thought of the gold was probably not without its consideration. He accordingly expressed his inten- tion of honouring Gowrie with hia presence at dinner. After continuing the sport for a short time, James, accompanied by the Duke of Lennox and the Earl of Mar, rode to the residence of the Gowries. No sooner had he finished his repast, and the attendant noblemen had been seated for a similar purpose, when Alexander Ruthven approached him ; intimating that now was the most favourable moment for examining the stranger. The King rose and followed Ruthven to an upper room, on entering which the latter closed the door, and James suddenly found himself in the presence of a person in complete armour. His natural inquiry was whether this was the person he had come to examine ? " No," said Ruthven, (at the same time snatching a dagger from the girdle of the man in armour,) " you have been brought hither for another purpose ; you killed my father, and are here to answer for his death." James, it is said, greatly alarmed, insisted that, being a minor at the time, 24 JAMES I. lie was entirely innocent of the execution of the late Earl, and used every argument and entreaty to avert the threatened danger. Euthven's compassion was so far moved, as to undertake, on condition that the King should remain quiet, to seek out and endeavour to soften his brother. However, he soon returned, and informed James that there was no remedy, and that he must make up his mind to die ; at the same time forcibly laying his hands upon the King, and endeavouring to bind his hands with a garter, a remarkable expedient when we consider that a pistol or a dagger (if Euthven had, indeed, any intention on the King's life,) would have been much more effective. Besides, according to James's own account of the trans- action, which he afterwards published, it appears that during Euthven's temporary absence, the man in armour not only expressed his intention not to injure the King, but asserted with an oath that he would sooner die first. For what reason, therefore, this person was placed there, or why he did not assist James to escape, or why he did not interfere when he beheld his sovereign struggling in the gripe of Euthven, appears not only unaccountable, but has occasionally induced a disbelief of the whole affair. The King according to his own narrative managed during the struggle to drag his adversary towards a win- dow which looked into the street, and perceiving the Earl of Mar below called out to him lustily for assistance. The Earl, followed by a considerable number of persons, rushed up the staircase and finding the door fastened within, burst it open.* Previously, however, to the * The Duke of Lennox, in his deposition, gives an amusing description of the stirring scene in which he bore a share. " As they wer standing [below the window] advyseing quhair to seik the King, incontinent, and in this mentyme, this deponar hard ane voce, and said to the Erie of JAMES I. 25 arrival of the Earl on the spot, John Ramsey,* a page, happening to come up a back staircase, through which the assassins meant to have escaped, discovered the King struggling with Ruthven. James instantly called to him to strike his antagonist, desiring him to thrust low, for he wore a coat of mail. His words were "Fy! strik him laich, because he hes ane pyne-dowlit upon him."f Ramsey instantly obeyed, forcing his dagger into Ruth- ven's stomach two or three times. According to Spots- wood, the man whom the King found in the apartment endeavoured to make his escape, but was run through the body by Sir Thomas Erskine, and killed on the spot. It seems, however, by every other account of the affair, that this mysterious individual took advantage of the com- motion, and retired unnoticed and unopposed from the apartment. Soon after this, the Earl of G-owrie, who really seems Mar, ' This is the Kingis voce that cryis ; be quhair he will I And sua they all lukand up to the ludgein^ ; they saw his Majestic lukand forth at the window wantand his hat, his face being reid [red], and ane hand gripand his cheik and mouth ; and the King cryit, ' I am murtherit ! Teassoun ! My Lord of Mar, help 1 help!' And incontinent, this deponar, the Erie of Mar, and their cumpany, ran up the stair to the Galry chalmer, quhair his Majestic wes, to have relevit him ; and as they passed up, they fand the dure of the chalmer fast ; and seing ane ledder standing besyd, they raschit at the dure with the ledder, and the stoippis of the ledder brak : And syne they send for hammeris ; and nochtwithstanding lang forceing with hammeris, they gat nocht en trie at the Baid chalmer, quhill eftir the Erie of Gowrie, and his brother wes baith shine." Pitcairn's Criminal Trials, v. ii. p. 173. * For this service Ramsey was created Viscount Hadington, and, having accompanied the King to England, in 1620 was raised to be Baron of Kingston and Earl of Holderness. The elevation was attended by a particular proviso, that on the 5th] August, the day on which he had delivered his sovereign, he and his heirs should for ever carry the sword of state before the King, in commemoration of the service which he had performed. t Pitcairn's Criminal Trials, vol. ii. p. 158. 20 J^MES I. to Lave been completely ignorant of what was going forward, rushed into the apartment in which James had been placed by Sir Thomas Erskine, accompanied by three or four of his retainers, and having a sword in each hand. He made a most gallant attack, or rather defence, and was on the point of routing his opponents, when one of them cried out that the King was killed. Gowrie, in natural astonishment, dropped the points of his swords to the ground, when Kamsey, the page, seized the opportunity and ran his rapier through the Earl's heart.* Thomas Cranstoun, George Craigengelt, and John Baron, retainers of the Gowries, were executed for havin<* * * O connived at this conspiracy. They all, however, declared with their dying breath that they were ignorant of any treasonable intent, and that they had only drawn their swords in defence of the Earl their master. " I have been taken," said Cranstoun, " for a traitor, but I thank God I am not one. I was stabbed through with a sword at this last tumult, and now I am to be hanged."f Andrew Henderson, another follower of that unfortunate noble- man, deposed, on the other hand that he was the person in armour already mentioned ; though it seems that the King had been previously well acquainted with Hender- son's person ; and yet notwithstanding a protracted con- versation, had hitherto entertained not the least suspicion of his identity. The evidence indeed of Henderson is so full of contradictions, as to render the fact of his being the person extremely improbable.^ It appears far more * Spotswood, p. 457 ; Sanderson, p. 226. Gowrie Place, with its gloomy dungeons, its intricate passages, and narrow winding stairs, was demolished as late as the year 1807. It stood in the town of Perth, on the left bank of the river Tay, in a line with Water-street and Spey-street. f Pitcairn's Criminal Trials, vol. ii. p. 155. See a very ingenious treatise, " The History of the Life and Death of John Earl of Gowrie, by the Rev. James Scott," p. 327, Edinburgh, JAMES I. 7 likely that he volunteered the testimony which he gave, in order to save his life ; if indeed he had not been tampered with by the court, who were naturally anxious to coroborate the King's statement, on which hitherto had alone rested the suspicions of Gowrie's guilt. Besides, James describes the man in armour as " a black grim man," while Henderson is stated by his contem- poraries to have been a person of " low stature, ruddy complexion, and brown bearded." In addition to these inconsistencies is the fact, that the King's published relation of what occurred is in singular opposition to the evidence of the witnesses.* The further we investigate this complicated affair, the greater difficulties we meet with. On the one hand, it appears highly improbable that James should have entered into sucli a plot against his own subjects that he should have allowed the Earl and his brother to return from abroad, and have loaded them with favours, when all the time he fully intended their destruction, that he should have been guilty of the solemn mockery of appointing an annual day of thanksgiving for a 1818. This work, which is one of considerable labour and research, contains some curious references and extracts from unpublished MSS., the parochial records of Perth, as also a summary of the various tracts and other printed works, -which treat on the subject of the " Gowries' Conspiracy." The object of the reverend author is confessedly to excul- pate his favourites, the Gowries ; and if he has fallen short of effecting his purpose, he has at least adduced some very staggering facts, and opened an interesting and wider field for discussion. * See Life and Death of John Earl of Gowrie, p. 324. It is there affirmed, on the authority of an Edinburgh MS., that at the very time when Gowrie was killed, Henderson was seen walking on the Tay Bridge of Perth ; and again, "That he was the man said to be in. armour was known to be a falsehood, for he was seen that day coming from Scoon to Perth, on foot ; and having heard that the King was in Gowrie's house, and the gate shut, walked on the bridge till all 28 JAMES I. deliverance which was merely ideal ; * and, what is perhaps the most weighty argument, that so notorious a coward should have voluntarily implicated himself in so perilous an adventure. On the other hand, the arguments in favour of the Gowries' innocence are still more staggering. Besides the absence of a sufficient motive, it was proved that the only weapon found on Alexander Euthven after his death, was a sword rusted in its sheath and undrawn ; and he was besides a mere boy at the time. The Earl and his brother were both slain on the spot, instead of being taken prisoners, which might easily have been effected. The King, without any apparent motive, had assembled an unusual force of armed men at the time, and as many as five hundred gentlemen are said to have composed his suite. The reality of the conspiracy was not only gene- rally canvassed at the period, but appears to have been commonly disbelieved. The ministers of the Church in Edinburgh positively refused to return thanks for the King's delivery, preferring to encounter his utmost vengeance to implicating themselves in what they con- scientiously believed to be an infamous and mountebank cheat. The Bishop of Eoss alone had complaisance enough to address the people at the Market Cross at Edinburgh, but even he contented himself with a simple narration of what was supposed to have taken place. For many years afterwards, Growrie was spoken of in Perth and its neighbourhood as an innocent and injured * A thanksgiving for the King's deliverance was continued on the 5th of August throughout his reign. Bishop Andrews is said to have fallen on his knees to James, beseeching his Majesty to enlighten him as to the reality of the treason, in order that he might be released from mocking the Almighty, should the story be a mere fiction. James, however, assured the bishop, on the faith of a Christian and the word of a King, that there was no deception in the case. Biog. Brit., vol. iv., p. 2455. JAMES I. 29 person, and James's conduct invariably mentioned with abhorrence. It has been asserted that a criminal attachment existed between the Queen and Alexander Buthven, and that the King's jealous sensibility induced him to adopt this means of revenge. This supposition, however, can be mentioned as little more than a surmise. An attempt has been made to prove that the Earl of Gowrie was not only nearly allied, but, after James, was actually the next heir to the English crown. The supposition of Gowrie's affinity to the throne rests as follows : At the death of Elizabeth, the crown would natu- rally revert to the descendants of Henry the Seventh. Margaret Tudor, eldest daughter of that monarch, and grandmother of James the First, after the death of her husband, James the Fourth of Scotland, had married Henry Stuart, Lord Methven ; who again married Lady Janet Stewart, daughter of the Earl of Athol. Lord Gowrie's mother was certainly granddaughter of Lord Methven, but whether descended from his first wife, the Queen Dowager, or from Lady Janet Stewart, remains, we believe, yet to be proved : if from the former, after the failure of issue from James the First, the Earl' was certainly the natural successor to the throne ; if from the latter, though in some degree it allied him to the royal family, it placed his hopes of succession at a very considerable distance. Ingenious as are the attempts to prove this relation- ship on the part of the Gowries, and some of the arguments are staggering, we must ever bear in mind the important fact, that not a single contemporary historian has alluded to the subject ; and we can hardly believe that had such claims really existed, we should have been left so entirely in the dark. There are innumerable instances, 30 JAMES T. indeed, which clearly demonstrate that both Elizabeth and James regarded Lady Arabella Stuart as the subject most nearly allied to the throne. " Quiet as that young creature looks," said Queen Elizabeth to the French ambassadress, " she may one day sit on this throne ! " Now, if the Earl of G-owrie were really the great-grandson of Queen Margaret, the claims of Arabella Stuart are thrown altogether into the back-ground. Supposing, however, as a matter of argument, that Gowrie really stood in the position in which it has been attempted to place him, the fact, however satisfactorily proved, would throw but little additional light on the identity of the guilty party. The same inducement which might have led Gowrie to get rid of James, in order to his own succession, might have actuated James in getting rid of Gowrie ; for James was undoubtedly as jealous of his successor, or of any person who might interfere with his rights, as was Elizabeth herself; a fact sufficiently proved, after his accession to the English throne, by his treat- ment of Arabella Stuart. It is the more improbable, also, that the proximity of the G-owries to the blood royal should have been an inducement with James ; for, after the death of the Earl and his brother, there remained two younger brothers, William and Patrick, who naturally inherited the claims of their elder brother. James, what- ever was the motive, certainly persecuted that gallant and unhappy family to the last : William died in exile, and Patrick remained a prisoner in the Tower of London till liberated at the accession of Charles the First. The boon of freedom would have been valueless without the means of subsistence, and Charles considerately settled as mall pension on the victim of his father's injustice. During his incarceration, Patrick Ruthven had occupied tis time and attention in literary and scientific pursuits. JAMES I. 31 "When the troubles of the Revolution deprived him of the royal bounty, the last of the Ruthvens appears to have wandered an impoverished scholar in the streets of London ; if he had not actually to struggle with the horrors of starvation. It is but fair on the part of James, to record the fol- lowing anecdote, though probably no great weight ought to be attached to it : Mr. "William Cowper, the minister of Perth, informed Archbishop Spotswood, that, visiting the Earl of Gowrie some days previous to the supposed conspiracy, he found him intent on a book entitled, " Con- spiracies against Princes."* The Earl remarked that former plotters had invariably failed in their object through mismanagement, and that entire secrecy was the only basis of success. To enable the Crown to confiscate the estates of the deceased Earl, it was necessary that there should be a legal inquiry into the proofs of his guilt. This ceremony may be rather called a trial of the dead, for, in accordance with an ancient custom, the massacred remains of the brothers were deposited in court during the process of investigation. The Parliament decreed that their names, dignities, and memories, should be blotted from the books of the nobility.; that their property should be at the disposal of the King; that they should be hung, drawn, and quartered, at the cross of Edinburgh ; and that the several portions of their bodies should be affixed to the most public buildings of the principal towns in the kingdom. The sentence was fulfilled almost to the letter : their heads were placed on the Tolbooth at Edinburgh, and their legs and arms on the gates of Perth. Such are the circumstances connected with the famous Gowrie conspiracy. It must be admitted that the * De Conjurationibus adversus Principca. 32 JAMES I. generality of our historians have decided in favour of Jarnes. Whatever, therefore, is now adduced, is intended rather as a brief summary of the main facts of a myste- rious tale and perplexed controversy, than with any hopes of deciding on the merits of a question which has been often and ably discussed, and which, in all probability, will never be satisfactorily settled. 83 CHAPTER IV. Death of Elizabeth Transfer of the Crown of England to James Sir Robert Carey's Mission to announce the Tidings to James Reception of the news by that Monarch The Blue Ring Joy of the Scots on James's Accession to the English Throne Sir Roger Aston Progress of James to his new Capital His Reception in England His Notions of the Royal Prerogative Tastes intro- duced by James into the English Court The King's Love of Buffoonery His "Counterblast to Tobacco" Curious Letter Sir John Harrington's Account of the Court Revels during the Visit of the Danish King James's Love of Wine Anecdote of the King of Denmark Intoxication of the two Kings James's Excesses and his maudlin Repentance His Habit of Swearing Lord Herbert's Apology for him. QUEEN ELIZABETH expired on the 24th of March, 1603, and, at her death, the crown of England was trans- ferred tranquilly and undisputedly to the brows of her successor. The deceased Queen, partly, perhaps, from superstitious, and partly from political motives, had ever shrunk from naming the person whom she wished to succeed her, and had invariably met any importunities on the subject with the utmost indignation. In the last moments of her glorious career, while in extreme sickness of mind and body, the Lord Admiral, the Lord Keeper, and Secretary Cecil, for the last time intruded upon her the hateful subject. The Queen, says Camden,* replied faintly, that as she held a regal sceptre, so she desired no other than a royal successor. "When Cecil requested her to explain herself more fully ; I would, she added, * Camden, Hist, of Queen Elizabeth, in Kennett, vol. ii., p. 653. TOL. i. 34 JAMES I. have a Icing to succeed me, and who should that le but my nearest kinsman, the King of Scots ? Such is Cam den' a account, from which our principal historians appear to have borrowed their relation of this important passage.* There is, however, another writer, Eobert Carey, afterwards Earl of Monmouth, who was constantly in the Queen's sick chamber, and who, in his curious autobiography, relates the story in a somewhat different manner. Elizabeth, he says distinctly, was speechless at the time ; adding, that when the name of the King of Scotland was mentioned to her, she put her hand to her head, by which " they all knew that he was the man she desired should reign after her." f The Council, and especially Cecil, were naturally anxious, in order to secure the quiet establishment of James, that they should be enabled to add the authority of the Queen's express wishes to the claims of hereditary descent ; we can there- fore readily imagine that any circumstance, however slight, would have been brought to bear on the occasion. It seems just as probable that the movement of the Queen's hand should have been caused by a pain in her head, as that it should have been intended to denote the disposition of a kingdom. No sooner was the breath departed from the Queen's body, than Sir Eobert Carey,J who had been anxiously * Rapin, vol. ii., p. 155 ; Echard, vol. 5., p. 902 ; Hume, voL v., p. 385. Sanderson who may almost be considered as a contemporary gives a similar account (p. 261). This historian, however, notwith- standing his constant professions to have been behind the scenes, is well known to have been a mere borrower from other writers. See Oldy's Life of Ealeigh, p. 163 ; and Kennett's History, vol. i., p. 662. t Memoin of Carey, Earl of Monmouth, p. 140. t Fourth son of Henry first Lord Hunsdon, created by James I., 5th February, 1625, Baron Carey and Earl of Monmouth. Horace Walpole has given him a place among the noble authors, observing, that "he was a near relation of Queen Elizabeth, but appears to have owed JAMES I. 35 hovering about the death-bed of his kinswoman and benefactress, set off, with the lamentations of her women still ringing in his ears, to announce the important tidings to James ; an act quite as indelicate as it was unautho- rised. It appears, by Carey's own statement, that he must have ridden the distance between London and Edinburgh (about 400 miles) within the space of sixty hours, notwithstanding he received a dangerous fall from his horse, which retarded him on the road. He rode to Doncaster, a distance of 153 miles, the first night.* James received the news of his accession with decent equanimity. Eapin states, on the indifferent authority of a French historian,t tha the could not forbear lifting up his eyes to Heaven, as if to thank God for the boon which he had so long and anxiously expected. Carey, on his part, mentions nothing of this discomposure, slight as it was, in the manner of James. The King had just gone to bed when he arrived, and therefore received him his preferment to the despatch he used in informing her successor of her death." He was indeed a true courtier. His Memoirs were first published by John Earl of Cork and Orrery, in 1759. He died at an advanced age in 1639. Walpole's Works ; Burke's Extinct Peerage; Memoirs of Himself ; and Sir E. Brydges' Memoirs of the Peers of the reign of James I. * Memoirs of Carey, Earl of Monmouth, p. 149. Carey informs us, in his Memoirs, that he had, some years previously (1599), won a wager of 2000J., by walking in twelve days to Berwick, which, he says, "bettered him to live at Court a good while after." The distance is 337 miles from London ; but probably, in those days, it was much greater, and the roads unquestionably were much worse. More than one instance might be mentioned of our ancestors having performed con- siderable distances in an incredibly short space of time. On the 17th July, 1620, one Bernard Calvert of Andover, rode from St. George's Church, South wark, to Dover, crossed the channel in an open boat, to Calais, and from thence returned to St. George's Church in the same day ; having performed the whole distance between three o'clock in the morning and eight in the afternoon. Medulla, Hist. Anglicanae, p. 185. t Vol. ii., p. 158 ; from I>u Chesne, Hist. d'Anglet. 2 86 JAMES I. in his bed-chamber. " I kneeled by him," adds this true courtier, " and saluted him by his title of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland. He gave me his hand to kiss, and bade me welcome. After he had long discoursed of the manner of the Queen's sickness, and of her death, he asked me what letters I had from the council ? I told him none; and acquainted him how narrowly I escaped from them. And yet I had brought him a blue ring from a fair lady, that I hoped would give him assurance of the truth that I had reported. He took it and looked upon it, and said, ' It is enough ; I know by this you are a true messenger.' " * Birch has thrown a partial light over the history of the blue ring. " Lady Elizabeth Spelman," he says, " used to relate, that the Lady Scroope, who waited upon the Queen in her last moments, as soon as her Majesty ex- pired, threw this ring out of the window to her brother, which appears to have been a token agreed upon between her and the King of Scots as the notice of the Queen's death." f A window, which may still be seen over the old gateway of Richmond Palace, in which Elizabeth died, is said to be that from which Lady Scroope threw the " blue ring." Nothing could exceed the joy of the Scottish nation, when the tardy accession of James to the throne of England was at length announced. The protracted reign of Elizabeth had been universally regarded as a national calamity ; and we are even assured that a belief existed among the lower classes in Scotland, that the Queen of England had been long since dead, and that the English had been in the habit of substituting a series of old women in her * Memoirs of Carey, Earl of Monmouth, p. 151. + Yie\r of the Negotiations between England, France, and Brussels. Sir E. Brydges' Memoirs of the Peers of England. JAMES I. 87 room. "Weldon says that the wisest heads in Scotland could scarcely be induced to believe, that as long as there was an " old wife " in England, their King would be called on to succeed. The person selected by James to communicate his intended proceedings to the English council was Sir Boger Aston,* who is reported to have served -the King for many years as his barber, though he eventually rose to be a gentleman of the bed-chamber and master of the wardrobe. He seems to have been a plain and straight- forward man, quite as overjoyed as his master at the near prospect of those splendours and luxuries for which they had so long waited. This rough Scotchman being admitted into the council-chamber, the lords received him with much courtesy, and asked him how he did ? " Even, my lords," he replied, " like a poor man wander- ing about forty years in a wilderness and barren soil, and now arrived at the land of promise." f Such was the general feeling of the Scottish nation. Shortly before James's departure from Edinburgh, happening to attend divine worship at St. Giles's Church, the preacher thought proper to remind him of God's mercies, exhorting him to be duly grateful for the favour which had been shown him, and not to forget his countrymen ! The King actually rose from his seat, and, "promising to have a care of them and their good, gave them a most loving and kind farewell." J James set forth on his journey for England on the 5th * He was the natural son of John Aston, second son of Richard Aston, of Aston, in Cheshire ; and though born an Englishman, had been brought up in Scotland. He had occasionally been employed to carry letters between James and Elizabeth. Sir Roger died 23rd May, 1612, having accumulated a large fortune at Court. Athense Oxon. , vol. L coL 173. t Weldon, p. 6. J Spotswood, p. 476. 38 JAMES I. of April, 1603. He parted with his Queen in the High Street of Edinburgh, in the presence of a vast concourse of people, who were doubtless much edified by the tears which are said to have plentifully flowed from the eyes of the royal couple, as they affectionately bade each other farewell. The progress of James, from his old to his new capital, was everywhere attended with a magnificence, to which he had scarcely been accustomed in his own impoverished realm.* The houses of the nobility and principal gentry were prepared for his reception on the way, and he was everywhere entertained with the most splendid hospitality. " These people," said a blunt Scotchman, " would spoil a good King." With the exception of a fall from his horse in hunting, and a remarkable circumstance of his having hung a foot-pad without even the form of a trial, no event of any importance occurred during his progress through his new dominions. The grief for a departed monarch is commonly of short duration. The joy of the people was not less ardent, nor their acclamations less loud, when they beheld the foreign successor (of whose character they knew about as little as they did of his folios), than when they had crowded round the chariot of the illustrious princess, over whose remains the grave had only just closed. James, how- ever, did his utmost to damp the ardour of his new sub- jects. He had always disliked a crowd, and on the pretence that such a concourse of admirers would produce a scarcity of provisions, he issued an order for their dis- persion. The higher ranks were naturally displeased at the manner in which he prostituted all titles of honour. Besides his promiscuous additions to the peerage, it is * See Nichols's Progresses and Processions of King James I., vol. L, p. 5o. JAMES I. 39 reported that within six weeks after he left Scotland, he conferred knighthood on no less than two hundred and thirty-seven persons. A pasquinade was affixed to St. Paul's, purporting to be a method to enable weak memories to retain the names of the new nobility.* James's notions of the royal prerogative appear to have increased with his addition of territory. At Newark, as has been already related, he took upon himself to hang a highwayman without the least pretence of a trial a sort of Orientalism which was afterwards canvassed in such a manner, as to prevent the probability of its recurrence. f In James's progress to London celerity seems to have been considered as of the least importance. The greater part of the days were passed in hunting, and the nights in feasting. He arrived in London on the 7th of May, 1603, having consumed five weeks in his journey. J The tastes and habits which were introduced by James into the English court, differed widely from the stately pastimes and chivalrous amusements of the past reign. There was no want of what may perhaps be called magni- ficence ; indeed, the expense of supporting the royal pleasures occasionally amounted to extravagance, but at this period of his reign there was not only little elegance, but the taste of the court, and especially of * Wilson, in Kennett, voL L, p. 665. + James entertained to the last the most dangerous notions as to the extent to which the royal prerogative should be carried. This is the more singular since his tutor, the illustrious Buchanan, endeavoured by every means in his power to instil very different ideas into the mind of his pupil, and, indeed, published his work, De jure Regni apud Scotos, with this object. J The coronation of James took place on the 25th of July, 1603 ; the ceremony, owing the plague which raged fearfully in the metropolis, being performed hurriedly, and without ostentation, by the Archbishop of Canterbury. 40 JAMES I. the King himself, appears constantly tinctured with grossness and vulgarity. The nice perceptions of Prince Charles and Buckingham eventually introduced those intellectual refinements which, in the succeeding reign, distinguished the court of England as the politest in Europe. The Scotch, who accompanied James to his new dominions, are said to have brought with them their dirt as well as their poverty. The Countess of Dorset informs us, that when she paid her visit of congratulation to the royal family at Theobalds, she was surprised at the great change which had taken place, in regard to the want of cleanliness, since the preceding reign. Soon after quitting the palace she found herself infested with those insects, the name of which it is scarcely considered delicate to mention. It is to be regretted, that Sully, in his account of his embassy to England, enters so little into the fashions and manners of the court. He mentions, however, an occasion of his dining with James at Greenwich, when he was "not a little surprised to behold that the King was always served on the knee. A surtout," he adds, " in the form of a pyramid, was placed in the middle of the table, which contained most costly vessels, and was even enriched with diamonds." Let us return, however, to the private tastes and pursuits of James. There were a set of persons about the King, who were every ready to pander to his gross ideas of amusement. Sir Anthony Weldon gives us the following account of the popular entertainments at court, about the period that Buckingham first came into favour. " Then," he says, " the King began to eat abroad, who formerly used to eat in his bed-chamber, and after supper would come forth to see pastimes and fooleries, in which Sir Edward JAMES I. Zouch,* Sir George Goring,t and Sir John Finett, J were the chief and master-fools : and surely this fooling got them more than any other's wisdom, far above them in desert. Then were a set of fiddlers brought up on purpose for this fooling ; and Goring was master of the game for fooleries, sometimes presenting David Droman and Archie Armstrong on the back of the other fools, to tilt one at the other, till they fell together by the ears ; sometimes the property was presented by them in antic dances. But Sir Jo. Millisent, who was never known before, was commended for notable fooling ; and so was indeed the best extemporary fool of them all." Sir George Goring, who afterwards rose to military celebrity in the civil troubles, appears to have well merited his title of " Master-fool." In a letter to the Earl of Arundel, dated 22d November, 1618, another of his follies is described. The occasion was a kind of alfresco party, in commemoration of the Prince's birth-day, when the principal courtiers had agreed to meet together, each contributing his own share of the repast, some striving to be substantial, some curious, and some extravagant. Sir George Goring' s invention bore away the bell ; and that was four brawny pigs, piping hot, bitted and har- * Probably the same Sir Edward Zouch who was Knight Marshal of England in the reign of James I., and consequently related to Edward Lord Zouch of Haringworth. The identity, however, is equally uncertain and immaterial. t Sir George Goring, afterwards so distinguished for the services which he rendered to his sovereign during the civil troubles, was created, 14th April, 1632, by Charles I., Baron Goring of Hurst Pierpont, and 8th November, 1644, Earl of Norwich. He married Mary, daughter of Edward Lord Bergavenny, and died in 1662. Sir John Finett, master of the ceremonies to James I. and Charles I., and author of "Finetti Philoxenis," containing some curious anecdotes and treatises on points of precedence and court etiquette. It was first published in London, 1656. 42 JAMES I. nessed, with ropes of sausages, all tied to a monstrous pudding." * The King's love of buffoonery never deserted him, even when age and vexation were pressing hard upon him. But what he most delighted in was any burlesque, however caricatured, on the incidents of real life : the more ridiculous they were, says Arthur Wilson, the more they pleased him. A story is told, by this writer, of a profane expedient, adopted by Buckingham and his mother, to divert the royal melancholy at the most dismal period of his reign. A young lady was intro- duced, carrying in her arms a pig, in the dress of an infant, which the Countess presented to the King in a rich mantle : one Turpin, dressed like a bishop, in a satin gown, lawn sleeves, and the usual pontifical ornaments, commenced reading the ceremony of baptism from the book of Common Prayer, while an assistant stood ready with a silver ewer filled with water. The King, to whom the joke was intended to convey a pleasing surprise, hearing the pig suddenly squeak, looked more closely about him, and recognised the face of Buckingham, who was intended to personify the god-father. " Away, for shame," he cried : " what blasphemy is this ? " extremely indignant at the trick which had been imposed upon him.f AVe must not, however, attribute his displeasure, on this occasion, to any other cause than the accidental melancholy which happened to have mastered him at the time. It is extremely improbable that such artful poli- ticians as Buckingham and his mother should have ventured on such " blasphemies," unless persuaded, by the success of former puerilities, that their impious * Lodge's Illustrations of English Hist., vol. iii., p. 403. 1" Wilson, in Kennett, vol. ii., p. 760. JAMES I. 43 buffoonery would not be unpleasing to the vreak-minded monarch. It may be proper, too, to mention, that a pig was an animal of which James had a more than Judaical abhorrence. He tells us, in his " Counterblast to Tobacco," that were he to invite the Devil to dinner, he would place three dishes before him ; first, a pig ; secondly, a poll of ling and mustard ; and thirdly, a pipe of tobacco to assist digestion.* His dislike to tobacco was only equalled by his horror of the pig. And yet, considering how frequently references are made by con- temporary writers to the King's dislike to pigs, we are surprised to find his favourite Buckingham more than once addressing him, in his letters, by the familiar appel- lation of " Sow." On other occasions, we find the King familiarly addressed by his minions as " Your Sowship." To " lug the sow by the ear," is an expression not unfrequently used by Anne of Denmark in her familiar notes to the Duke of Buckingham, when she suggests that he should treat the King with some friendly admonition. Buckingham she usually styles her " kind dogge ; " and on one occasion she writes to the King ; " I am glad that my dog Stennie [Buckingham] does well ; for I did command him that he should make your ear hang like a sow's lug, and when he comes home I will treat him better than any other dog." The following lively letter of the period contains a more graphic picture, and will afford a more accurate notion of the manners of the court, than could be effected by a more elaborate description. That the wit is of a lighter kind, and the language less ponderous, than is generally the case with the familiar epistles of the period, must be taken as an additional reason for its insertion: * Witty Apophthegms of James I. 41 JAMES I. it is addressed by Sir John Harrington * to Mr. Secretary Barlow, and dated London, 1606 : " MY GOOD " In compliance with your asking, now shall you accept my poor account of rich doings. I came here a day or two before the Danish King f came, and from the day he had come to the present hour, I have been well nigh overwhelmed with carousal and sports of all kinds. The sports began each day in such manner and such sort, as well nigh persuaded me of Mahomet's paradise. We had women, and indeed wine too, of such plenty, as would have astonished each beholder. Our feasts were magni- ficent, and the two royal guests did most lovingly embrace each other at the table. I think the Dane hath strangely wrought on our good English Nobles ; for those whom I could never get to taste good English liquor, now follow the fashion, and wallow in beastly delights. The ladies abandon their sobriety, and are seen to roll about in intoxication. In good sooth, the Parliament did kindly to provide his Majesty so seasonably with money ; for there has been no lack of good living, shows, sights, and banqueting from morn to eve. " One day a great feast was held ; and after dinner the representation of Solomon's temple, and the coming of the Queen of Sheba was made, or (as I may better say) was meant to have been made, before their Majesties, by * The Epigrammatist, and translator of the Orlando Furioso. He was made a Knight of the Bath by King James, and died in 1612, aged 51. t Christiern, King of Denmark, brother to the Queen, arrived in England 17th July, 1606, and departed on the 14th of August following. Camden. His curiosity led him occasionally to wander about the streets of London in disguise, but it did not prevent him showing a repugnance to visit the Tower of London, when he happened to be informed that it was a prison. Sanderson. JAMES I. 45 device of the Earl of Salisbury * and others. But, alas ! as all earthly things do fail to poor mortals in earthly enjoyments, so did prove our presentment thereof. The lady who did play the Queen's part did carry most pre- cious gifts to both their Majesties ; but, forgetting the steps arising to the canopy, overset her caskets into his Danish Majesty's lap, and fell at his feet, though I rather think it was in his face. Much was the hurry and con- fusion ; cloths and napkins were at hand, to make all clean. His Majesty then got up, and would dance with the Queen of Sheba ; but he fell down and humbled him- self before her, and was carried to an inner chamber, and laid on a bed of state, which was not a little defiled with the presents of the Queen, which had been bestowed on his garments ; such as wine, cream, jelly, beverage, cakes, spices, and other good matters. The entertainment and show went forward, and most of the presenters went backward or fell down ; wine did so occupy their upper chambers. "Now did appear in rich dress, Hope, Faith, and Charity ; Hope did assay to speak, but wine rendered her endeavours so feeble that she withdrew, and hoped the King would excuse her levity. Faith was then all alone ; for I am certain she was not joined to good works, and left the court in a staggering : Charity came to the King's feet, and seemed to cover the multitude of sins her sisters had committed ; in some sort she made obeisance, and brought gifts, but said she would return home again, as there was no gift which Heaven had not already given his Majesty. She then returned to Faith and Hope, who were both sick in the lower hall.f * Robert Cecil, Earl of Salisbury, the celebrated Secretary. + The whole account, and especially the disgraceful state of the Cardinal Virtues, is no doubt somewhat overcharged. 46 JAMES I. " Next came Victory, in bright armour, and presented a rich sword to the King, who did not accept it, but put it by with his hand ; and by a strange medley of versifi- cation did endeavour to make suit to the King. But Victory did not triumph long ; for after much lamentable utterance, she was led away by a silly captive, and laid to sleep in the outer steps of the ante-chamber. " Now did Peace make entry, and strive to get fore- most to the King ; but I grieve to tell how great wrath she did discover unto those of her attendants ; and much contrary to her semblance, made rudely war with her olive-branch, and laid on the pates of those who did oppose her coming. " I have much marvelled at those strange pageantries ; and they do bring to my remembrance what passed of this sort in our Queen's days, of which I was sometime an humble spectator and assistant ; but I never did see such lack of good order, discretion, and sobriety, as I now have done. I have passed much time in seeing the royal sports of hunting and hawking, where the manners were such as made me devise the beasts were pursuing the sober creation, and not man in quest of exercise and food. I will now, in good sooth, declare unto you, who will not blab, that the gunpowder fright is got out of all our heads, and we are going on hereabouts as if the devil was con- triving every man to blow up himself, by wild riot, excess, and devastation of time and temperance. The great ladies do go well masked, and indeed it be the only show of their modesty to conceal their countenances : but alack ! they meet with such countenance to uphold their strange doings, that I marvel not at aught that happens. The lord of the mansion * is overwhelmed in preparations at Theobalds, and doth marvellously please both Kings * The Earl of Salisbury. JAMES I. 47 with good meat, good drink, and good speeches. I do often say (but not aloud) that the Danes have again con- quered the Britons, for I see no man, or woman either, that can command herself. I wish I was at home : O rus, qiiando te aspiciam ! and I will before the Prince Vaudemont * cometh." f "Wine was always palatable to James. It was, there- fore, not unnatural that the visit of his jovial brother-in- law should have led to more than one scene of inebriety. J * Francis Prince Vaudemont, son of the Duke of Lorrain. He arrived in England 23rd September, 1606, about six weeks after the departure of the King of Denmark. Camden's Annals. t Nugse Antiquae, vol. i., p. 348. The arrival of the boisterous Dane in England, and the manner in which, with homely jocularity, he surprised his sister the Queen of England, are amusingly described in a letter of the period. "He landed here at Yarmouth, and then took post-horses here to London, where, dining at an ordinary inn, near Aldgate, he hired a hackney- coach, and presently addressed his course to the Queen's court, and entered the presence before any person had the least thought of him. I hear Cardel, the dancer, gave the first occasion of his discovering him, by saying that that gentleman was the likest the King of Denmark that ever he saw any in his life, which a Frenchman, one of his Majesty's servants, hearing, and viewing his countenance well, whom he had seen the last time of his being here, grew confident that it was he ; and presently ran to carry the news thereof to the Queen, who sat then at dinner privately, in her gallery at Somerset House. The Queen at first scorned him for his labour, so vain it appeared, and thought it some fantastic capricio of a French brain. But the King, following close after, and begging silence with the beckoning of his hands as he entered, came behind her and embraced her, ere she was aware, and saluting her with a kiss, taught her the verity of that which before she believed to be a falsehood. Presently she took off the best jewel she wore about her, and gave it to the Frenchman for his tidings, despatched a post to his Majesty, who was then well onward on his progress, and then intended the care of his entertainment." Letter from Mr. Lorkin to Sir T. Puckering, Bart.; Bishop Goodman'* Memoirs, vol. ii., p. 371. 48 JAMES I. The Danish monarch, indeed, seems to have been some- what famous for disordering his faculties with the juice of the grape. Howel tells us of an instance of his excess, which occurred when, some years afterwards, this author accompanied the Earl of Leicester on his embassy to Denmark. The Earl was invited to dinner by the Dane, who did the best in his power to make the ambassador drunk. They sat down to their meal at eleven o'clock, and continued drinking till the evening, during which period the King proposed thirty-five healths, first the Emperor, then the King of England, and so on, till he had exhausted all the Kings and Queens in Christendom. The consequence was that his Majesty was eventually carried off in his chair. The same considerate attention was offered by two of the guards to the ambassador, who, however, was fortunately able to reach his chamber without their assistance.* Peyton mentions a remarkable debauch, which occurred during the visit of the King of Denmark at the English court, on which occasion both monarchs got intoxicated. James was in such a disgraceful state, that he was obliged to be carried to bed by his courtiers, a task which was performed with considerable difficulty. The King of Denmark, on his part, was so drunk as to make very violent love to the Countess of Nottingham, " making horns in derision at her husband, the high admiral of England." f This story is, to a certain extent, corro- * Howell's Letters, p. 249. j* Charles Lord Howard of Effingham, Knight of the Garter, created Earl of Nottingham in 1597. He enjoyed the proud distinction of having commanded the English fleet against the Spanish Armada. He died, at Haling House, in Surrey, on the 14lh December, 1624, at the age of eighty-eight. His countess, the lady referred to in the text, was Lady Margaret Stewart, daughter of James, Earl of Murray, and kinswoman to James I. They had not long been married ; the lady apparently MO WAR. ID FIRST EAEL OF NOTTINGHAM: OB-, i JAMES I. 49 borated by a letter, still extant, which was addressed by the Countess to the Danish ambassador, in which she inveighs with natural indignation against the insult which had been offered to her.* To return to the foibles of our own monarch. Even in his taste for wine, as in most of his other habits, we may trace the effeminacy of his nature. His partiality was for " sweet rich wines," such as are commonly supposed to be preferred by the fairer sex. Coke informs us that he indulged " not in ordinary French and Spanish wines, but in strong Greek wines." Even when engaged in hunting, a sport which seldom requires adventitious excitement, he was attended as closely as 'possible by a special officer, who constantly supplied him with his favourite beverages. Coke's father, on one of these occasions, managed to being abont nineteen, and the earl in his seventy-first year. The King seems to have been very eager in promoting this ill-assorted union. * "SiR, I am sorry this occasion should have been offered me by the King your master, which makes me troublesome to you for the present. It is reported to me by men of honour, the great wrong the King of Danes hath done me, when I was not by to answer for myself ; for if I had been present, I would hare let him know how much I scorn to receive that wrong at his hands. I need not to urge the particulars of it, for the King himself knows it best. I protest to you, Sir, I did think as honourably, of the King, your master, as I did of my own Prince ; but now I persuade myself there is as much baseness in him as can be in any man ; for although he be a Prince by birth, it seems not to me that there harbours any princely thought in his breast ; for either in prince or subject, it is the basest that can be to wrong any woman of honour. I deserve as little that name he gave me, as either the mother of himself, or of his children ; and if ever I come to know what man hath informed your master so wrongfully of me, I shall do my best for putting him from doing the like to any other ; but if it hath come by the tongue of any woman, I dare say she would be glad to have companions. So leaving to trouble you any further, I rest your friend, M. NOTTINGHAM. " * * Cabala, SuppL, p. 96. 50 JAMES I. obtain a draught of the royal wine, which, his son tells us, was not only of such strength as to spoil his day's sport, but disordered him for three days afterwards. Weldon gives it as his opinion that James was not habitually intemperate, but that as old age crept on, and Buckingham's jovial suppers became more alluring, he occasionally exceeded, and was sometimes overtaken ; a transgression which he would next day remember, and repent irith tears. After such indulgences there is gene- rally another matutinal memento besides conscience. The maudlin monarch weeping over the recollections of the last night's debauch must have been an edifying sight to his courtiers. " His drinks," adds the same writer, " were of that kind for strength, as Frontignac, Canary, high-country wine, tent wine, and Scottish ale, that had he not had a very strong brain, he might have daily been overtaken, although he seldom drank at any one time above four spoonfuls, many times not above one or two." James, says Sully in his Memoirs, was in the habit of quitting the company after dinner and going to bed, where he usually spent part of the afternoon, and some- times the whole. Another of James's vices was the constant practice of having an oath in his mouth. Sir John Peyton assures us, that from the example set by the King, the fashion of swearing grew into great esteem ; and even the King's apologist, Bishop Goodman, admits that he was " wonder- fully passionate and much given to swearing." And yet the same man, who was daily offending against morality, and undermining it by his influence, in his Basilicon Doron, thus apostrophises his own son, who is well known to have regarded an oath with the utmost abhor- rence: "Beware," says James, "to offend your con- science with the use of swearing or lying, suppose but in JAMES I. 51 jest ; for oaths are but a use, and a sin clothed with no delight nor gain, and therefore the more inexcusable, even in the sight of men." Weldon says, that in his cooler moments, the King was in the habit of expressing his abhorrence at his own bad habit, trusting, he said, that as the oaths which he made use of were uttered in moments of passion, they would not be imputed to him as sins. That his reputation for profane swearing was not con- fined to his own subjects, may be discovered by the following anecdote : When the famous Lord Herbert of Cherbury was Ambassador at Paris, the Prince de Conde paid him a visit. The conversation chanced to turn upon the character of James, who was then King of England. The learning, clemency, and other good qualities of the King were politely admitted by the Priuce ; who, how- ever, mentioned the report which he had heard of his Majesty's habit of swearing. Lord Herbert answered, paradoxically, that it was a weakness which arose entirely from the natural gentleness of the King's disposition ; an assertion which brought forth a remark from the Prince that curses and gentleness were incompatible. "On the contrary," replied Lord Herbert, "the King, my master, is too kind to punish men himself, and there- fore leaves their chastisement in the hands of God." Lord Herbert, who had more to be proud of than the credit of a smart saying, appears to have valued himself highly on this ingenious apology for his sovereign. He informs us that it was afterwards much celebrated at the French court. E 2 CHAPTER V. James's Promise to his Scotch Subjects English Antipathy to the King's Scotch Favourites James's Apology to the English Par- liament for his Patronage of his Countrymen His undeserved Reputation for Liberality Anecdotes The King's Taste for lavishing immense Sums on Court Masques Reduced State of his Finances His Fondness for the Chase His bad Horsemanship His Love of the Cock-pit His Personal Vices Letters between the King and the Duke of Buckingham Buckingham's Pro- fligacy Hypocrisy of James His Insincerity His Behaviour to Robert Carr. JAMES kept faithfully the promise which he had made to his Scotch subjects in his farewell attendance at St. Giles's Church. A temperate prejudice in favour of former friends would have been laudable ; but the un- qualified distinction which, in the early part of his reign, he made in favour of Scotch interests and Scotch con- nexions, was naturally productive of much comment and envious feeling among his English subjects. "We may trace an evidence of the English antipathy towards the northern and penniless favourites of James in the answer of Guy Fawkes to a Scottish nobleman who assisted in interrogating him before the council. When asked by the latter for what purpose he had collected so large a quantity of gunpowder, "To blow," he said, "the Scottish beggars back to their native mountains." It may be observed that James happily denominated Guy Fawkes the English Scoevola.* * Lingard, vol. ix., p. 56. JAMES I. 53 According to a writer of the period : Scots from the northern frozen banks of Tay, "\Vith packs and plods came whigging all the way ; Thick as the locusts which in Egypt swarm' d, With pride and hungry hopes completely arm'd ; With native truth, diseases, and no money, Plundered our Canaan of the milk and honey ; Here they grew quickly lords and gentlemen, And all their race are true-born Englishmen. So great was the disgust which this principle of favouritism had produced, that James thought it neces- sary to make the following characteristic apology to the English Parliament. " Had I," he proceeds, " been oversparing to them, they might have thought Joseph had forgotten his brethren, or that the King had been drunk with his new kingdom. If I did respect the English when I came first, what might the Scotch have justly said if I had not in some measure dealt bountifully with them, that so long had served me, so far adventured themselves with me, and been so faithful to me ? Such particular persons of the Scottish nation as might claim any extraordinary merit at my hands, I have already reasonably rewarded ; and I can assure you that there is none left for whom I mean extraordinary to strain myself further." * As Harris, however, justly observes, it was but a short time afterwards that he took Robert Carr into favour, and heaped on him such immense treasures. The credit, indeed, which James has generally acquired for profuse liberality, taking the word in its more generous sense, appears, on a very superficial investiga- tion, to be totally undeserved. There certainly appear to have been several occasions on which he squandered * King James's Works, p. 515. 54 JAMES I. large sums on undeserving favourites,* of which the following anecdote affords an instance. James, on a certain day being in the gallery at Whitehall, attended only by his handsome favourite, Henry Rich, afterwards Earl of Holland, and Maxwell, a gentleman of the bed- chamber, some servants happened to pass through, bearing a large sum of money (3000Z.), which they were conveying to the privy purse. James, observing the two gentlemen whispering with one another, and ascer- taining from Maxwell that the subject of their con- versation was an incidental wish which had been expressed by Rich, that he could appropriate the gold to his own use, he immediately ordered it to be conveyed to the latter's lodgings ; remarking that it afforded him more pleasure in bestowing the money than Rich could receive in accepting it. James's want of knowledge of the actual value of money may, however, be taken as some apology for the sums which he so unworthily lavished. There is an instance of his presenting the Earl of Somerset at one time with an order for twenty thousand pounds, an immense sum at that period. The Lord Treasurer, * Osborne says, " The setting up of these golden calves cost England more than Queen Elizabeth spent in all her wars ;" and Dr. lingard, in alluding to the profuse generosity of James, has the following note : " At the marriage of Sir Philip Herbert with Lady Susan Vere, he made the bridegroom a present of lands to the yearly value, as some say, of 5001., as others, 12001. At the marriage of Ramsey, Viscount Haddington, with Lady Elizabeth Katcliff, he paid Ramsey's debts, amounting to 10,000?., though he had already given him 10001. per annum in land (Winwood, ii. p. 217), and sent to the bride a gold cup, in which was a patent containing a grant of lands of 6001. a-year. Lodge, iii. pp. 254, 336 ; oderie, iii. p. 129. From the abstract of his revenue I find that his presents at different times in money to Lord Dunbar amounted to 15,2621. ; to the Earl of Mar, to 15,5001. ; to Viscount Haddington, to 31,OOOJ." Lingard, rol. ix., p. 91. JAMES I. 55 desirous of making the King aware of the enormous amount which he was squandering on his favourite, invited James to an entertainment, at which four sums, of five thousand pounds each, were purposely placed on as many tables, in an apartment through which James was to pass. The King, who had never before seen so much money at one time, inquired the reason of the display. Being informed that these heaps were the amount of the sum which he had ordered to be paid to Somerset ; " Zounds, man," he cried, " five thousand is enough to serve his turn," which was all that the favourite at that time received.* These munificent, though ill-bestowed, donations, added to the vast sums which were lavished on the enter- tainments of the court, had at one time drained the royal treasury to its lowest ebb. By a letter among the Talbot Papers, it is proved that one masque alone cost the exchequer three thousand pounds.f This taste for lavishing immense sums on magnificent spectacles and social diversions was not merely confined to the court. To provide for a masque at Lord Haddington's marriage, twelve of the principal courtiers subscribed three hundred pounds apiece. The King, however, was the principal sufferer; and so reduced were his finances about the fourth year of his reign, and so clamorous were the officers of his household for the payment of their salaries, that they actually stopped the coach of the Lord Treasurer, and prevented his proceeding further, till he had given a solemn promise that their demands should * Coke's Detection, vol. i., p. 55. Lloyd says that the King only awarded five hundred pounds to Somerset ; but this, as the sum is given numerically, appears to be an error of the press. State Worthies, vol. ii., p. 19. t Lodge's Illustrations of English History, voL iii. p. 250. 56 JAMES I. be satisfied.* At Brussels James was caricatured in a hose doublet, with empty pockets hanging out, and an empty purse in his hand. The King's personal expenses and individual pleasures were but, in a small degree, the cause of his pecuniary embarrassments. His principal source of enjoyment was in the chase, from which he ever derived the keenest gratification. It was a common expression of our ances- tors, when they took leave of their friends, " God's peace be with you, as King James said to his hounds." Scaliger observed of him, "The King of England is merciful except in hunting, where he appears cruel. When he finds himself unable to take the beast, he frets and storms, and cries, God is angry with me, but I will have him for all that ! "When he catches him, he thrusts his whole arm into the belly and entrails of the creature up to the shoulder." His favourite pastime, on one occa- sion, very nearly cost him his life : Sir Symonds D'Ewes teDs us, that he was thrown headlong into a pond, and very narrowly escaped drowning. Nor is this the only instance of his indifferent horsemanship nearly proving fatal to him. Mr. Joseph Meade writes to Sir Martin Stuteville, llth January, 1622, "The same day his Majesty rode by coach to Theobalds to dinner, not intending, as the speech is, to return till towards Easter. After dinner, riding on horseback abroad, his horse stumbled and cast his Majesty into the New River, where the ice brake ; he fell in so that nothing but his boots were seen. Sir Eichard Young was next, who alighted, went into the water, and lifted him out. There came much water out of his mouth and body. His Majesty rid back to Theobalds, went into a warm bed, and, as we hear, is well, which God continue." f * Bkch's Life of Prince Henry. + Ellis, Orig. Letters, vol. iii., p. 117. JAMES 1. 57 In addition to his ruling taste for hunting, and his addiction to the pleasures of the table, the cock-pit was frequented by him at least twice a week, and indeed constituted one of his principal sources of amusement. It is even affirmed that the salary of the master of the cocks amounting to two hundred pounds per annum, exceeded the united allowances of two secretaries of State. His excessive indolence and love of pleasure, inter- fering, as they were allowed to do on all occasions, with the calls of business and the most important necessities of state, excited equally the indignation of his ministers and the offensive strictures of his people. It was in vain that the former even fell on their knees to him, and implored him to show more care for his subjects' interests and his own. He replied coldly, that the state of his health required frequent relexations ; adding, that he would far sooner return to Scotland, than consent to be immured in his closet or chained to the council- table.* Neither did the stage overlook his notorious vices and foibles, where they were introduced with unbecoming familiarity. Sometimes he was represented as indecently intoxicated; at others as cursing and swearing at his hawks and hounds, and striking his servants in his intemperate wrath. Many of the original letters, which passed between James and the Duke of Buckingham are preserved among the Harleian MSS. and elsewhere, and abound with evidences of, to say the least, very undignified familiarity, and sometimes with gross indecency. The equality on which they corresponded is well known. The King generally addresses Buckingham as " his dear child and * Lingard, voL iz., p. 82. 58 JAMES I. gossip," and frequently subscribes himself as " your dear dad and gossip : " on one occasion, when he sends his favourite some partridges, he concludes, " your dear dad and purveyor," \vhile Buckingham, on his part, generally addresses the King as "dear dad and gossip," and ter- minates vrith "your Majesty's most humble slave and dog, Steny." In one of his letters, the King tells Buckingham that he " wears his picture in a blue ribbon, under his waistcoat, next his heart," and in another, he assures his " only dear and sweet child " how anxious he is that he should " hasten to him at Birely that night, that his white teeth may shine upon him." In a letter, published by Dalrymple, in his Memorials of the reign of James the First, Buckingham addresses the King with the following strange parade of familiar titles : " My purveyor, my good fellow, my physician, my maker, my friend, my father, my all ; I heartily and humbly thank you for all you do and all I have." At other times, we find the King assisting Bucking- ham in his profligate amours, and this almost at the very period when he was addressing to his favourite a meditation on the Lord's Prayer. " For divers times," says James, in his preface, " before I meddled with it, I told you, and only you, of some of my conceptions on the Lord's Prayer, and you often solicited me to put pen to paper : next, as the person to whom we pray it, is our heavenly Father, so am I that offer it unto you, not only your politic, but also your oeconomicke father, and that in a nearer degree than unto others. Thirdly that you make good use of it ; for since I daily take care to better your understanding, to enable you the more for my service in worldly affairs, reason would that God's part should not be left out, for timor Domini est initium sapientice. And lastly, I must with joy acknowledge, JAMES 1. 59 that you deserve this gift of me, in not only giving so good example to the rest of the court, in frequent hear- ing of the word of God, but in special, in so often receiving the sacrament, which is a notable demonstration of your charity in pardoning them that offend you, that being the thing I most labour to recommend to the world in this meditation of mine : and how godly and virtuous all my advices have ever been unto you, I hope you will faithfully witness unto the worid."* More hypocritical trash than this, or at any rate, a more conflicting line of conduct, it would be difficult to imagine. Even if James were himself sincere in his professed reverence for religious duties, (and there is reason to believe, notwithstanding his evident incon- sistencies, that such was the case,) what can be more incongruous than his introducing so sacred a subject to a gay and thoughtless courtier, whose complaisance, and pretended interest in his Majesty's pursuits, could surely only have originated in a desire to gratify the weak monarch, by the usual arts of adulation ! There is one part of the King's preface which reminds us of the last days of Louis the Fourteenth, whose courtiers, when religion became a fashion at Versailles, were accustomed to take the sacrament two or three times in one day. It is possible that Buckingham's motive was not very dissimilar- That James's friendships, which had their birth in mere outward accomplishments, should have been extremely brief in their existence, is scarcely to be wondered at ; but to fickleness he added insincerity an important ingredient in what he termed his king-craft. It was in his nature to hug a favourite at one moment and to ruin him at the next. At the time when he was * King James's Works, p. 573. 60 JAMES I. apparently taking the most affectionate interest in Buckingham's welfare, there is reason to believe that, in his heart, he was projecting his destruction. Had James lived, the fall of that magnificent favourite would, in all probability, have been as rapid as his rise. His behaviour to Eobert Carr was even more unjustifiable. When that once courted and splendid criminal was proceeding to his trial, and, for aught that was known to the contrary, to his death, the King expressed the most poignant grief at their parting. And yet he was not only secretly overjoyed at his favourite's disgrace, but had been making use of every means to procure his utter and irremediable ruin. Of the farewell parting between James, and the com- panion who had once been so dear to him, Weldon has given the following curious account : " "When the Earl kissed his hand, the King hung about his neck, slabbering his cheeks saying, 'for God's sake, when shall I see thee again ? On my soul I shall neither eat nor sleep until you come again.' The Earl told him on the Monday (this being on the Friday). Tor God's sake let me,' said the King : ' Shall I, shall I ? ' then lolled about his neck. ' Then for God's sake give thy lady this kiss for me : ' in the same manner at the stair's head, at the middle of the stairs, and the stair's foot. The Earl was not in his coach when the King used these very words (in the hearing of four servants, one of whom reported the story instantly to the author of this history). ' I shall never see his face more.' " 61 CHAPTER VI. James's Pedantry His Love of Literature His egregious Vanity His " Doron Basilicon" His Work on Dsemonology His Belief in Witchcraft His Translation of the Psalms His Poetry Raillery of Henry the Fourth of France James's Wit and Conversational Talent His Aphorisms Letter from Sir John Harrington to Sir Annas Paulet, illustrative of the Character of James. IT has long been the fashion to decry James as a mere pretender to learning. "His pedantry," says Lord Bolingbroke, " was too much even for the age in which he lived;" and again he adds: "He affected more learning than became a King, which he broached on every occasion in such a manner as would have misbe- come a schoolmaster." Pope and Horace Walpole have joined in the outcry. " Quotations," (says the latter writer,) " puns, scripture, witticisms, superstition, oaths, vanity, prerogative, and pedantry, the ingredients of all his sacred Majesty's performances, were the pure produce of his own capacity, and deserving all the incense offered to such immense erudition by the divines of his age, and the flatterers of his court." His Majesty's writings, however, though cramped and obscured by pedantry and false taste, are not altogether without their merit. He was certainly possessed of considerable learning, if we may not add genius ; and though not an elegant scholar, was at least an industrious one. Isaac Casaubon, who is not only a high authority in such matters, but who had also the advantage of forming his 62 JAMES I. judgment by personal intercourse, in a letter to Thuanus, speaks in warm terms of the soundness of the King's learning. His love of literature was sincere, and his efforts in its cause unwearying. "Were I not a King," he said, on visiting the Bodleian library, " I would wish to be an University man." To the University of Cambridge he was constantly sending for books of refer- ence ; and many of those days, which he professedly borrowed from the court, with the object of indulging in the sports of the field, were terminated in long hours of study or literary relaxation. If his assumptions of superiority in the field of letters were arrogant and ostentatious, we should remember that when the sover- eign turns author, he has few critics, and numberless admirers. A Bishop flattered him by translating his works into Latin, and the court endeavoured to persuade him that he was a Solomon. James, however, had certainly no mean opinion of his own capacity. He told Sully, (perhaps the best judge in Europe of the merits of such an assertion,) that for a long time previous to his accession to the throne of England, he had secretly governed the whole of Queen Elizabeth's councils, and that her ministers were merely tools in his hands. No wonder Sully has thought such a piece of vanity worth recording. In the King's first folio edition of his works,* which no doubt underwent his own supervision, and, indeed issued from the press of the royal printer, we find the following modest lines inserted beneath his portrait : Crowns have their compass, length of days their date, Triumphs their tombs, felicities their fate ; Of more than earth, can earth make none partaker, But knowledge makes the King most like his Maker. * King James's Works, Lond., 1616. JAMES I. 63 James was in all probability the author of his own encomium. The work before us must have been revised with great care and attention, and it is not unamusing, in comparing it with one of his old Edinburgh treatises or proclamations, to observe what pains must have been taken to render it palatable to the English reader. The Doron Basilicon, containing advice to his son respecting his moral and political conduct, is undoubtedly the best of King James's productions. It was first published in 1603, and went through three editions in that year. It has less of pedantry, and more of good sense, than are to be found in the writings of his con- temporaries : moreover, it exhibits no slight knowledge of human nature, and no common capacity. "We regret, however, that he did not himself act up to the principles which he endeavoured to inculcate. Had this work proceeded from the heart, had it been softened by any pleasing traits of real affection for his son, it would probably have continued popular to the present day. Unfortunately, it was written to attract admiration, and not to benefit a child whom he is known to have disliked. His work on Daemonology is less meritorious, but more remarkable. Jatnes had at one time doubted the existence of those " detestable slaves of the Devil, the witches," as he himself styles them, though he afterwards adopted a different opinion, and dignified the subject with his pen. The following extract will exhibit how little superior he was, to the idle superstitions of the day. Discussing the probability of innocent persons being accused and unjustly punished : " There are two good helps," he writes, " that may be used for their trial : the one is the finding of their mark, and trying the insensiblenesa 04) JAMES I. thereof; the other is their fleeting on the water: for, as in a secret murder, if the dead carcass be at any time thereafter handled by the murderer, it will gush out blood, as if the blood were crying to Heaven for the revenge of the murderer : so it appears that God hath appointed (for a supernatural sign of the monstrous impiety of witches) that the water shall refuse to receive them in her bosom, that have shaken off them the sacred water of baptism, and wilfully refused the benefit thereof." It is amusing, in these enlightened times, to find his Majesty inveighing against the " damnable opinions of one Scot, an Englishman, who," he informs us, "is not ashamed to deny in public print, that there be such a thing as witchcraft, and so maintains the old error of the Sadducees in denying of Spirits." Such were the argu- ments of our forefathers. Because a sensible individual disbelieved that an old woman had the power of diseasing a pig, or blighting an apple-tree, the evidence that he was a materialist was considered as damning and conclusive.* It is but fair, however, to admit that, as James advanced in years, his maturer judgment discovered that many of his opinions had been erroneous, nor was he ashamed to acknowledge himself in the wrong. James, says Southey, " had written a treatise upon Dsemonology ; and yet in consequence of what he afterwards observed, and the discovery of many impostures which were detected by his sagacity, he was perhaps the first person who shook off the superstitious belief of witchcraft, and openly proclaimed its falsehood." f The King's translation of the Psalms, in which he endeavoured to rival the far-famed Sternhold and * King James's Works, p. 91. + Southey's Book of the Church, p. 434. JAMES I. 65 Hopkins, was never finished, and is the least known of any of his compositions. The eleventh verse of the seventy-fourth Psalm, " Why withdrawest thou thy hand? why pluckest thou not thy right hand out of thy bosom, to consume the enemy ? " is thus paraphrased by James, and may be taken as a specimen of the whole : Why dost thou thus -withdraw thy hand, Even thy right hand restrain ? Out of thy bosom for our good, Draw back the same again. The translation of the same verse by Hopkins is still more solemnly ludicrous : Why dost thou draw thy hand aback, And hide it in thy lap ? pluck it out, and be not slack To give thy foes a rap. James again paraphrases the first verse of the same Pssalm as follows : Oh why, our God, for ever more Hast thou neglected us ? Way smokes thy -wrath against the sheep Of thine own pasture thus ? Altogether, from the specimens of the King's muse, which have been handed down to us, it is very clear that, as a poet, he has not the slightest claim even to the doubtful credit of mediocrity. Of taste James was almost equally devoid. "Walpole says, " it is well for the arts that King James had no disposition for them ; he let them take their own course. Had he felt any inclination for them, he would probably have introduced as bad taste as he did into literature. A prince, who thought puns and quibbles the perfection of eloquence, would have been charmed with the monkeys of Hemskirk, and the 66 JAMES I. drunken boors of Ostade." Probably Sully was not far wrong, \vhen he spoke of James as the wisest fool in Christendom. The charge, which has been so frequently brought against James, of egregious pedantry, is undoubtedly well deserved. Henry the Fourth of France amused himself, in more than one instance, with this weakness of his brother monarch. "When it was told him that James had succeeded to the throne of England, he observed, " En verite c'est un trop lean morceau pour un pedant" On another occasion, when James happened to be styled the English Solomon, in Henry's presence " I hope," he observed, alluding to the supposed attach- ment of James's mother to David Eizzio, " I hope the name is not given to him because he is David the fiddler's son." Lord Sanquhar was present at the utterance of this biting sarcasm, and when that nobleman was after- wards sentenced to be hanged, for having assassinated Turner the fencing-master, James refused him his pardon on the ground that he had neglected to resent the insult.* In allusion to James's character for pedantry, Pope introduces the following lines into the Dunciad : Oh, cried the goddess, for some pedant reign ! Some gentle James to bless the land again ; To stick the doctor's chair into the throne, Give war to words, or war with words alone ; Senates and Courts with Greek and Latin rule, And turn the Council to a grammar-school. * Divine Catast. This was Robert Crighton, Lord Sanquhar, a Scotch nobleman, whose eye was accidentally put out by Turner, whil-a they were amusing themselves with fencing. Sometime afterwards, he was asked by the French King how the accident had happened. Sanquhar detailed the circumstances, on which the King asked whether the man still lived who had mutilated him f The question had such an effect upon Lord Sanquhar, that he returned to England and hired JAMES I. 67 There are two points, his wit and conversational talent, on which James deserves some credit. There seems reason to believe that he was a very companionable personage. AVeldon, who rarely says a word in his favour, informs us that " he was very witty, and had as many ready jests as any man living, at which he -would not smile himself, but deliver them in a grave and serious manner." "VVheu one of the Lumleys was, on one occasion, boasting of his ancestry rather beyond the limits of good breeding, " Stop, man," said the King, "you need say no more: now I know that Adam's surname was Lumley." * The House of Commons he styled, with some humour, " the five hundred kings." It was one of James's sayings that " very wise men and very fools do little harm : it is the mediocrity of wisdom," he added, " that troubleth all the world." f Pope has re-echoed this sentiment in the well- known line : A little learning is a dangerous thing. "Men, in arguing," said James, "are often carried by the force of words farther asunder than their question was at first ; like two ships, going out of the same haven, their landing is many times whole countries distant." In a letter, also, from Mr. Mead to Sir Martin Stuteville, we have an instance of his conversational humour. " His Majesty, at Theobalds," says the writer, " discoursing publicly how he meant to govern, was heard to say he would govern according to the good of the common-weal but not according to the common will." two of his countrymen to shoot the fencing-master at his house in White Friars. Lord Sanquhar was tried in the Court of King's Bench, in 1612, and, being found guilty of murder, was hung opposite to the Gate of Westminster Hall, only two days after his being found guilty. Bapin, vol. ii. p. 181, note. * D'Israeli, Enquiry into the Character of James I., p. 85. f Ibid. 68 JAMES I. On another occasion, a certain courtier, on his death- bed, expressing the utmost remorse that he had formerly, cheated the easy monarch ; " Tell him to be of good courage," said James, "for I freely and lovingly forgive him ; " and he added with some humour " I wonder much that all my officers do not go mad with the like thoughts ; for certainly they have as great cause as this poor man hath." * There is a curious little work in the British Museum, entitled. " Witty Observations of King James, gathered in his ordinary discourse," from which I have extracted the following specimens : " I love not one who will never be angry : for he that is without sorrow is without gladness, so he that is without anger is without love." " Parents may forbid their children an unfit marriage, but they may not force their consent to a fit one." " No man gains by war but he that hath not where- withal to live in peace." " It is likely the people will imitate the King in good : but it is sure they will follow him in ill." " I wonder not so much that women paint themselves, as that when they are painted, men can love them." " Much money makes a country poor, for it sets a dear price upon everything." " Cowardice is the mother of cruelty ; it was only fear that made tyrants put so many to death, to secure themselves." There is another work, entitled the " Witty Aphorisms of King James," which affords a still higher notion of his intellectual powers; but it has been more frequently selected for quotation. There have been many writers who have amused themselves with the King's wearisome * Bishop Goodman's Memoirs, vol. i. p. 303. JAMES 1. 69 folios and pedantic frivolities, who have been, in fact, greatly his inferiors in real learning and natural capacity. " In that curious repository, the ' Nuga3 Antiquae,' " says Horace Walpole, " are three letters which exhibit more faithful portraits of Queen Elizabeth and James I. than are to be found in the most voluminous collections." From this agreeable miscellany I have selected the fol- lowing letter, addressed by Sir John Harrington to Sir Amias Paulet. It introduces us at once behind the scenes, and affords an interesting sketch of the character of James, and no despicable view of his literary attain- ments and conversational powers. "January, 1670. " MY LOYINQ- COTJSIN, " It behoveth me now to write my journal, respecting the gracious command of my sovereign Prince, to come to his closet ; which matter, as you so well and urgently desire to hear of, I shall, as suiteth my best ability, relate unto you, and is as followeth : When I came to the presence-chamber and had gotten good place to see the lordly attendants, and bowed my knee to the Prince, I was ordered by special messenger, and that in secret sort, to wait awhile in an outward chamber, whence, in near an hour waiting, the same knave led me up a passage, and so to a small room, where was good order of paper, ink, and pens, put in a board for the Prince's use. Soon upon this, the Prince his Highness did enter, and in much good humour asked ' if I was cousin to Lord Har- rington, of Exton ? ' I humbly replied : ' His Majesty did some honour in inquiring my kin to one whom he had so late honoured and made a baron ; ' and moreover did add, ' we were both branches of the same tree.' Then he dis- coursed much of learning, and showed me his own in such 70 JAMES I. sort, as made me remember iny examiner at Cambridge. He sought much, to know my advances in philosophy, and uttered profound sentences of Aristotle, and such like writers, which I had never read, and which some are bold enough to say, others do not understand ; but this I must pass by. The Prince did now press my reading to him part of a Canto in Ariosto ; praised my utterance, and said he had been informed of many as to my learning in the time of the Queen. He asked me what I thought pure wit was made of, and whom it did best become ? Whether a King should not be the best clerk in his own country ; and if this land did not entertain good opinion of his learning and good wisdom ? His Majesty did much press for my opinion touching the power of Satan in matter of witchcraft, and asked me with much gravity, if I did truly understand why the devil did work more with ancient women than others ? I did not refrain from a scurvy jest, and even said (notwithstanding to whom it was said) that we were taught hereof in Scripture, where it is told that the devil walketh in dry places. His Majesty, moreover, was pleased to say much, and favouredly, of my good report for merit and good con- ceit ; to which I did covertly answer, as not willing a subject should be wiser than his Prince, nor even appear so. " More serious discourse did next ensue, wherein I wanted room to continue, and sometime some to escape ; for the Queen, his mother, was not forgotten, nor Davison neither. His Highness told me her death was visible in Scotland before it did really happen, being, as he said, spoken of in secret by those whose power of sight pre- sented to them a bloody head dancing in the air. He then did remark on this gift (second sight), and said he sought out of certain books a sure way to attain know- ledge of future chances. Hereat he named many books JAMES I. 71 which I did not know, nor by whom written ; but advised me not to consult some authors which would lead me to evil consultations. I told his Majesty the power of Satan had, I much feared, damaged my bodily frame, but I had not further will to court his friendship for my soul's hurt. We next discoursed somewhat upon reli- gion, when at length he said : ' Now, Sir, you have seen my wisdom in some sort, and I have pried into yours ; pray you do me justice in your report, and in good reason, I will not fail to add to your understanding in such points as I may find you lack amendment.' I made courtesy hereat, and withdrew down the passage and out at the gate, amidst the many varlets and lordly servants who stood around. Thus, you have the history of your neighbour's high chance and entertainment at court ; more of which matter when I come home to my own dwelling, and talk these affairs in a corner. I must press to silence hereon, as otherwise all is undone. I did forget to tell that his Majesty much asked concerning my opinion of the new weed, tobacco, and said it would, by its use, infuse ill qualities on the brain, and that no learned man ought to taste it, and wished it forbidden. I will now forbear further exercise of your time, as Sir Robert's man waiteth for my letter to bear to you, from your old neighbour, " Friend and Cousin, HA.EEINGTON." * * Nugse Antique, vol. L, p. 366. 72 CHAPTER VII. James's Pride in his Discriminative Powers His Discernment in examining the Accusation of Lady Exeter by Lady Lake and her Daughter Discovery of the hidden Meaning in Lord Mounteagle's Letter The King's personal Appearance His Indifference as to Dress His Hunting Costume Equestrian Processions The King's Addresses to the People in passing from Whitehall to Westminster His Cowardice Lampoons James's Melancholy and Irritability His passionate Conduct to his Servant John Gib. Gib's Resentment James's Remorse. JAMES prided himself highly on his discriminative powers, especially in nice points concerning the adminis- tration of justice, in which he fancied that he bore an especial resemblance to Solomon. The following story is not only illustrative of the times, but affords a tolerable notion of the King's boasted powers of discernment. Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Sir Thomas Lake,* Secretary of State, was married to William, Lord Eoos, Ambas- sador Extraordinary to the Court of Spain, between the years 1611 and 1617. Lord Eoos, in consequence of some family misunderstandings, afterwards retired into * He was originally secretary to Sir Francis Walsingham, and was afterwards employed to read French and Latin to Queen Elizabeth. He was actually engaged in this office when the Countess of Warwick informed him that the Queen was dead. Sanderson, p. 446. Sir Thomas died at his seat in Cannons, in Middlesex, 1 7th September, 1630. For further particulars respecting him, see Fuller's Worthies and Wood's Fasti, vol. i. 145. His wife, the Lady Lake referred to in the text, was Mary, daughter and heir of Sir William Ryther, Lord Mayor of London. She died in February, 1642. JAMES I. 73 Italy, where he embraced the Eoman Catholic religion. In these family contentions, whatever they might have been, -was implicated the handsome Countess of Exeter,* who, by marriage with the " old, gouty, and diseased," Earl, had become step-grandmother of Lord Boos. "With the view of effecting the young Countess's ruin, Lady Lake and her daughter, Lady Eoos, accused Lord Eoos not only of an incestuous attachment for Lady Exeter, but of having attempted to poison his wife and mother- in-law.f The story was soon blazoned abroad, and having reached the King's ears, he examined the witnesses sepa- rately on the subject. Lady Exeter could do little more than assert her innocence, which she did with many tears. Lady Lake and her daughter, on the other hand, produced a document purporting to be in the Countess's hand-writing, in which she declared herself guilty of the charges, and implored the pity and forgiveness of her accusers. This document was stated to have been drawn up and agreed upon at Lord Exeter's house at Wimble- don : the particular apartment, and, indeed, the precise spot in the apartment, were minutely pointed out, and Lord Eoos himself, and his Spanish servant, Diego, were asserted to have been witnesses. James, however, was far from being satisfied with the testimony which had been brought forward : he, very properly, despatched a Serjeant-at-Arms to Borne, who returned with a strong * Frances Brydges, daughter of William, fourth Lord Chandos, and second wife of Thomas Cecil, first Earl of Exeter, Lord Roos' grand- father. She was thirty-eight years younger than the earl, her husband. Lady Exeter died in 1663, at the age of eighty-three, and was buried in Winchester Cathedral. t Lord Roos was the son of William, second Earl of Exeter, and assumed the title of Lord Roos, in right of his mother, Elizabeth Manners, sole daughter and heir of Edward, third Earl of Rutland. Lord Roos died at Naples, 27th June, 1618. 74 JAMES I. asseveration from Lord Eoos and his servant, that the statement was wholly and entirely false. In addition to this step, the King took the trouble of comparing Lady Exeter's supposed confession with some of her letters, the result of which was, the expression of his decided opinion that the criminating document was a forgery. Having summoned Lady Lake and her daughter into his presence, and explained his reasons for suspicion, he informed them, that as the charge now rested entirely on their own assertions, he must require the joint testi- mony of some other party. A chamber-maid, one Sarah Swarton, was then produced, who affirmed that she had stood behind a hanging at the entrance of the apart- ment, and had overheard the Countess reading the con- fession of her own guilt. In addition to this, a document was produced, purporting to be the deposition of one Luke Hutton, that for forty pounds Lady Exeter had hired him to poison her accusers : this man, however, happened opportunely to appear, and denied all know- ledge of the affair. In order to ascertain what degree of credit was to be placed in the sole remaining testimony of the cham- bermaid, James took an opportunity of riding to "Wimbledon, for the purpose of having a personal survey of the scene of action. On inspecting the apartment in which Lady Exeter was said to have made her confession, James discovered that a person standing behind the hangings could not possibly have heard the voice of another, if placed in the situation sworn to by Sarah Swarton : the experiment was severally made by the King and the courtiers who accompanied him. The next step was to summon the housekeeper, by whom, being assured that the same hangings had remained there for thirty years, the King immediately remarked, that they JAMES I. 75 did not reach within a foot of the ground, and could not consequently have concealed any person who endeavoured to hide behind them. " Oaths," said James, " cannot confound my sight." Previous to the trial of Lady Roos and her mother for conspiracy, the King sent for Sir Thomas Lake, and advised him to leave his wife and daughter to their fate. Sir Thomas, however, declined doing so, observing that he could not refuse to be a husband and a father. The cause was heard before James in the star-chamber, and lasted five days. The King was commencing to produce his evidence, when Lady Eoos anticipated him by con- fessing her guilt, and thus escaped the penal sentence which she would otherwise have incurred. Lady Lake was fined ten thousand pounds to the King, five thousand to the Countess of Exeter, and fifty pounds to Hutton. Sarah Swarton was sentenced to be whipped at the cart's tail, and to do penance at St. Martin's church. The King compared what had taken place with the circum- stances of the transgression of our first parents ; Lady Lake he likened to the serpent, her daughter to Eve, and Sir Thomas to Adam. Sir Thomas Lake asserted that the whole affair cost him thirty thousand pounds.* James would merit far higher praise for discernment, could we bring home to him the credit of having dis- covered the hidden meaning contained in the famous letter to Lord Moimteagle, which led to the annihilation of the Popish Plot. Whether, however, this remarkable instance of discrimination is to be attributed to him or to Secretary Cecil, will probably ever remain a doubt.f * Aulicus Coquinarias ; Sanderson ; Camden's Annala in Kennett ; Athense Oxonienses. + In his speech to Parliament concerning the Plot, the King gives himself the sole credit of the discovery: "When the letter was showed 76 JAMES I. The personal accomplishments of James -were decidedly inferior to his intellectual acquirements. The portraits of him are less numerous than might have been expected, in consequence of a superstitious repugnance which he entertained to sit for his picture, a -weakness which Dr. Johnson informs us, may be reckoned among the anfractuosities of the human mind.* In stature James was rather above than below the common, size not ill made, though inclined to obesity his face full and ruddy his beard thin and his hair of a light brown, though latterly it had become partially grey. Sir Anthony Weldon thus describes the King's personal appearance and peculiarities, with which he must have been well to me by my Secretary, wherein a general obscure advertisement was given of some dangerous blow at this time, I did upon the instant inter- pret and apprehend some dark phrases therein, contrary to the ordinary grammar construction of them, and in another sort, than I am sure any divine, or lawyer, in any university would have taken them, to be meant by this horrible form of blowing us up all by powder ; and therefore, ordered that search to be made, whereby the matter was discovered and the man apprehended." Had. Miscel., voL iii., 8. Again, in the preamble to the act for a public thanksgiving, we find " The conspiracy would have turned to the utter ruin of this kingdom, had it not pleased Almighty God, by inspiring the King's most excel- lent Majesty with a divine spirit to interpret some dark phrases of a letter showed to his Majesty, above and beyond all ordinary construc- tion, thereby miraculously discovering this hidden treason." We can hardly imagine the King making so public a boast, or rather, being guilty of so gross a falsehood, had the credit been due to another ; and yet it is curious, in the circular of the Earl of Salisbury, to find the following decisive passage : " We (Salisbury and Suffolk) both conceived that it could not by any other way be like to be attempted than with powder, while the King was sitting in that Assembly, of which the Lord Chamberlain conceived more probability, because there was a great vault under the said chamber, we all thought jit to forbear to impart it to the King until some three or four days before the Sessions." Winwood, vol. ii., p. 171' * Weldon, p. 161. JAMES I. 77 acquainted. " He was of a middle stature, more corpulent through his clothes than in his body, yet fat enough, his clothes ever being made large and easy, the doublets quilted for stiletto proof, his breeches in great plaits and full stuffed ; he was naturally of a timorous disposition, which was the reason of his quilted doublets; his ejes large, ever rolling after any stranger that came in his presence, insomuch as many for shame have left the room, as being out of countenance ; his beard was very thin ; his tongue too large for his mouth, which ever made him speak full in the mouth, as if eating his drink, which came out into the cup on each side of his mouth ; his skin was as soft as taffeta sarsnet, which felt so, because he never washed his hands, only rubbed his fingers' ends slightly with the wet end of a napkin ; his legs were very weak, having had (as was thought) some foul play in his youth before he was born, that he was not able to stand at seven years of age ; that weakness made him ever leaning on other men's shoulders." James was extremely indifferent as to dress, and is said to have worn his clothes as long as they would hang together When a new-fashioned Spanish hat was once brought him, he pushed it away, observing, that he neither liked the Spaniards nor their fashions. On another occasion, when an attendant produced for his wear a pair of shoes adorned with rosettes, he inquired whether they intended to make a "ruffe-footed dove" of him ? He was so regular in his habits and meals, that one of his courtiers observed, that were he to awake after a seven years' sleep, he would not only be able to tell where the King had been on each particular day, but what he had partaken of for dinner. In his hunting costume, the appearance of James must 78 JAMES I. have been highly ludicrous : AValpole says he hunted in the " most cumbrous and inconvenient of all dresses, a ruff and trowser breeches." Sir Richard Baker, who was knighted by James, informs us that the King's manner of riding was so remarkable, that it could not with so much propriety be said that he rode, as that his horse carried him. James was accustomed to say, that " a horse never stumbled but when he was reined." The King's equestrian ungainliness was the more un- fortunate, in one of his exalted rank, as all processions, and journeys of state and convenience, were at this period, with few exceptions, performed on horseback. Even the peers were accustomed to ride to Parliament in their robes. Sir Symonds D'Ewes, in his curious journal, gives the following description of one of the royal pro- cessions to the House of Lords ; it is illustrative of the character of James and the manners of the period. " I got a convenient place in the morning, not without some danger escaped, to see his Majesty pass to Parliament in state. It is only worth the inserting in this particular, that Prince Charles rode with a rich coronet on his head, between the Sergeants-at-Arms carrying maces, and the pensioners carrying their pole-axes, both on foot. Is"ext before his Majesty rode Henry Yere, Earl of Oxenford,* Lord Great Chamberlain of England, with Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel,t Earl Marshal of England, on his left hand, both bareheaded. Then followed his Majesty with a rich crown upon his head, and most royally caparisoned. * Henry Yere, eighteenth Earl of Oxford, killed at the siege of Breda in 1625. t A Knight of the Garter, an antiquary, and a man of taste. He sat as Lord High Steward at the trial of the memorable Earl of Stafford. In 1644 he was created Earl of Norfolk. In 1646 he died at Padua, but was buried at Arundel. JAMES I. 79 " In the King's short progress from Whitehall to Westminster, these passages following -were accounted somewhat remarkable : First, That he spake often and lovingly to the people, standing thick and threefold on all sides to behold him. ' God bless ye ! God bless ye ! ' contrary to his former hasty and passionate custom, which often in his sudden distemper would bid a plague on such as nocked to see him; secondly, Though the windows were filled with great many ladies as he rode along, yet that he spake to none of them but to the Marquis of Buckingham's mother and wife, who was the sole daughter and heir to the Earl of Rutland ; thirdly, That he spake particularly and bowed to the Count of Gondemar, the Spanish Ambassador ; and fourthly, That looking up to one window as he passed, full of gentlemen and ladies, all in yellow bands, he cried out aloud, ' A plague take ye, are ye there ? ' at which, being much ashamed, they all withdrew themselves suddenly from the window." James appears, not only to have merited his reputed character for want of physical courage, but to have been totally deficient in that tact which occasionally suffices to conceal the deficiency. Even the story related of him, that he shuddered at the sight of a drawn sword, appears to be deserving of credit. Sir Kenelm Digby, in his Powder of Sympathy, assures us that when James knighted him, he very narrowly escaped having the sword thrust into his eyes : the King turning away his face, in order to avoid the sight of the naked weapon, the Duke of Buckingham was actually obliged to guide his hand to the knight's shoulder. Sir Kenelm attributes this par- ticular weakness to the fright occasioned to his unhappy mother, by the assassination of Rizzio in her presence : she was at the time far gone in her pregnancy with James. 80 JAMES I. The ridicule which want of courage drew down upon James, was not confined to his own subjects. In France, it was not unusual to distinguish the weak monarch as Queen James, and his high-spirited predecessor as King Elizabeth. Sully tells us, that Henry the Fourth used to style his brother monarch captain of arts and clerk at arms. The following epigram was popular at the period: Tandis qu' Elizabeth fut roy, L'Anglois fut d'Espagne TeflEroy; Maintenant, devise et caquette, Regi par la reine Jacquette. The following translation appears to have been the most ingenious : While Elizabeth was England's King, That dreadful name through Spain did ring ; How altered is the case ad sa' me ! These juggling days of gude queen Jamie ! In a caricature of the time, James was exhibited with an empty scabbard ; and in another as having his sword so firmly fixed in its scabbard, that it was impossible to draw it out.* Of the custom of wearing armour he observed, that it not only prevented its wearer from being hurt himself, but it also prevented him from doing " any vera great harm " to his adversary. There are numerous other instances, of the King's private failings having been lashed by the wits of the period. A lampoon, containing some impudent reflec- tions upon his court, was perused by him with evident indignation. At last he came to the concluding couplet, when his face suddenly lighted up with a smile. The lines which wrought the change were as follows : God bless the King, the Queen, the Prince, the Peers, And grant the author long may wear his ears ! Sir Walter Raleigh's Ghost, in Phoenix Britainicus, p. 323. JAMES I. 81 " By my faith, and so he shall for me," said the easy monarch ; " for though he be an impudent, he is a witty and pleasant rogue." James \vas constitutionally "what may be called good- natured ; but with the increase of years and political em- barrassments, he became fretful, impatient, and suspicious. So melancholy and irritable was he at times, that it required all the efforts of Buckingham and his mother to rouse him from despondency. Sometimes he would break out into the most passionate fits of anger ; and though his better nature eventually prevailed, yet the manner in which he expressed his regret was frequently quite as unkingiy, as had been the previous exhibition of his rage. On one occasion, happening to require some papers relative to the Prince's proposed marriage with a daughter of Spain, he sent for his old and faithful servant, John Gib, a Scotchman, to whom, he imagined, he had intrusted them. Gib, asserting that they had never been in his keeping, and all endeavours to discover them prov- ing vain, the King flew into a violent passion : Gib, in order to assuage his anger, threw himself on his knees at the King's feet, declaring that he was ready to suffer death, should it be ever proved that the papers had been delivered to his custody. James, losing all self-com- mand, was cowardly enough to give his faithful old servant a kick. Gib, instantly, and in natural indigna- tion, rose from his knees, and addressing himself to the King : " Sir," he said, " I have served you from my youth, and you never found me unfaithful ; I have not deserved this insult from you, nor can I bear to live with you after such a disgrace. Fare ye well, Sir; I shall never see your face more ; " on which he left the royal presence, mounted his horse, and rode to London. Shortly after this the papers were found, and James VOL. I. Q 82 JAMES I. became alive to the act of gross injustice of which he had been guilty. He was unmeasured in the terms of reproach which he heaped upon himself, and having des- patched messengers in the utmost haste after Gib, declared that he would neither eat, drink, nor sleep, till he again beheld the lace of his injured follower. Gib having been induced to return, and having been conducted into the royal presence, James, in his turn, fell on his knees before him, imploring his pardon, and expressing his determination not to rise till he had obtained the forgiveness of his servant. For some time Gib modestly declined, but James would on no account be satisfied till the words of pardon had actually been pronounced.* * "Wilson, p. 219. CHAPTER VIII. The King's Presentiment of his Death His Diseases His imprudent Indulgence in Fruit Communication to the King of his approaching End His Dying Interviews with Prince Charles His Death Remarks on the Religious Feelings of James Motives of his Toleration His Proclamation against a Puritanical Observance of the Sabbath Suspicion that James met his Death by Poison Conduct of Buckingham and his Mother Eglisham's Accusations Curious Tract in the British Museum Impeachment of Bucking- ham in the Reign of Charles the First Funeral of King James Character of that Monarch by Ben Jonson. THE King appears to have entertained a sort of pre- sentiment of bis own end. He had been much affected by the deaths of the Duke of Eichmond and the Marquis of Hamilton : " When the branches," he said, " are cut down, the tree cannot long remain."* His last illness commenced with a tertian ague, and was followed by a fever, which proved fatal. The courtiers, in order to console him, reminded him of an old proverb, that an ague in the spring was life for a king : he replied, that the proverb was meant for a young king. James, however, stood little in need of consolation ; the courage, in which he had formerly been deficient, seemed emi- nently conspicuous in his death. He prepared him- self for his end with a decency and a fortitude which would have been creditable to a braver man, and which was not unworthy of the religion which he professed. We have the authority of his physician, Sir Theodore * Spotswood, p. 646. a2 84 JAMES I. Mayerne, that the King had been suffering for some time from stone, gout, and gravel ; and according to Bishop Goodman, he was guilty of imprudences which were not unlikely to hasten his end. " Truly," says the gossiping prelate, " I think "King James every autumn did feed a little more than moderately upon fruits ; he had his grapes, his nectarines, and other fruits, in his own keep- ing ; besides, we did see that he fed very plentifully on them from abroad. I remember that Mr. French of the spicery, who sometimes did present him with the first strawberries, cherries, and other fruits, and kneeling to the King, had some speech to use to him ; that he did desire his Majesty to accept them, and that he was sorry they were no better, with such like comph'mental words ; but the King never had the patience to hear him one word, but his hand was in the basket. After this eating of fruit in the spring time, his body fell into a great looseness ; which, although while he was young, did tend to preserve his health, yet now, being grown towards sixty, it did a little weaken his body, and going from Theobalds to Newmarket, and stirring abroad when, as the coldness of the year was not yet past almost, it could not be prevented but he must fall into a quartan ague, for recovery whereof the physicians taking one course and the plaister another." His unwieldy size, for his obesity had increased with his years, had rendered such a complication of disorders the more formidable. Besides, he had always conceived such a repugnance to physic, that the doctors, even in his worst attacks, were unable to persuade him to have recourse to it.* As his indisposition became more alarming, he retired to Theo- balds, which had ever been his favourite residence, and * Aulicus Coqulnarlae, in Sec. Hist, of James L, vol. ii. p. 287. JAMES I. 85 which was shortly to become the scene of his dissolution.* The Lord Keeper Williams (a man whose power of amusing others appears to have been considerable) was no sooner acquainted with the King's danger, than he hastened to the royal presence, anti. remaining by his bedside till midnight, attempted to cheer and console the sick monarch. The following morning there was a con- sultation of physicians, who gave it as their opinion that his Majesty's case was hopeless. "When this was inti- mated to the Lord Keeper, with the Prince's permission, he knelt by the bed of the royal patient : " He came," he said, "with the message of Isaiah to Hezekiah, to exhort him to set his house in order, for that his days would be but few in the world." "I am satisfied," replied the King calmly, " and I desire you to assist me in preparing to go hence, and to be with Christ, whose mercies I pray for, and hope to find."f Feeling his strength declining, he sent for Prince Charles, whom he retained in conversation for three hours. He solemnly exhorted him to fix his thoughts on religion, to uphold the Church of England, and to take the family of the Palatine under his protection. The points on which the King admonished his son must have been communicated by the Prince himself, since we find, by a letter of the time, that in order that the conversation * "What remained of Theobalds, in Hertfordshire, King James's sumptuous palace, was pulled down, in 1765, by the present proprietor, George Prescott, Esq. Among the rest, was the room in which James I. died, and a portico, with a genealogical tree of the house of Cecil painted on the walls." GougKs Anecdotes of British Topography, f Philips's Life of Lord Keeper Williams, p. 143. Echard, vol. i. p. 978. See also D'Israeli's ingenious Curiosities of Literature, vol. iii. p. 259, in which there is an extract from the MS. collection of Sir Thomas Browne, strongly corroborative of Echard'a account, and to which, indeed, Echard appears to have had access. 86 JAMES I. might be secret,* not a single person was admitted within the distance of two or three rooms. On the Thursday before his dissolution, the King received the sacrament, with which he expressed himself much comforted; and from this period he continued praying and meditating on religious subjects. The Lord Keeper never left the sick chamber, nor changed his dress, till the King had breathed his last, but continued by his bedside, endeavouring to make his path easy to another world. On the Friday night his tongue had become so swollen that it was with difficulty he could make himself under- stood. A little before break of day, on the Sunday, he expressed a wish to have another interview with Prince Charles, who instantly rose and came in his night-dress to the King's bedside. The dying monarch endeavoured to raise himself on his pillow, as if he had something of importance to impart, but by this time his speech was inaudible. In his last moments, however, when the prayer commonly used at the hour of death was concluded, he repeated once or twice the words, Veni, Domine Jesu, and shortly afterwards ceased to breathe, without any appear- ance of pain.f The Lord Keeper closed the King's eyes with his own hand. It may not be out of place to speculate for a moment on the nature of those religious feelings, which could enable a pusillanimous monarch to support with dignity and courage the afflictions of disease and the terrors of dissolution. James had naturally the highest reverence for religion ; his intentions were generally laudable ; and he had from his youth been a constant observer of the * Ellis's Original Letters, vol. iii. p. 182. t Spotswood, p. 546 ; Echard, vol. L p. 978 ; Howel's Letters, p. 174 ; Wilson, p. 2S5. JAMES I. 87 external ordinances of the Church, and even supported its supremacy with his pen. Unfortunately, however, he was a mere creature of impulse ; easily led astray by passion, or the temptation of the moment. With an inherent anxiety to do good, he was constantly com- mitting evil. Still, however, there was the same venera- tion for the Deity, and the same ardour in His cause. The error or crime of to-day was followed by penitential tears on the morrow, an anomaly which continued to the last moment of his existence. Religion owing to the weakness of human nature, is open to innumerable and strange perversions ; and, like many others, James had, no doubt, fostered illusions which smoothed his path to eter- nity. The contrivers of the famous Gunpowder Plot (many of whom were persons really estimable in private life) con- ceived, that, by a terrible annihilation of some hundreds of their fellow-creatures, they were doing God service, and securing their own eternal happiness : some allow- ance, therefore, may be made for James, if he placed any reliance on the respect which he had ever intended to pay to religion ; and on the credit of having written some ponderous dissertations in its favour. With regard to ecclesiastical government during his reign, James has certainly proved himself wiser than his generation. Bred up in the rigid principles of Calvinism, he had been taught to regard the Arminian principles with abhorrence. In later years, however, his mind underwent a salutary reformation, and perceiving how seldom true charity and devotion were promoted by con- troversial disputes, he enjoined all preachers to abstain from " such perilous and unprofitable questions." * Not- withstanding his firm attachment to the interests and doctrines of the Church of England, and in spite of the * Southey's Book of the Church, p. 434. 88 JAMES I. obloquy which was heaped upon him, he was personally well inclined to religious toleration. He appears to have discovered, what a more extensive experience has since substantiated, that in order to destroy heresy, it is the worst policy to oppress it. These remarks, however, on the King's conduct, refer principally to his treatment of the Eoman Catholic portion of his subjects. Even the facb of the horrible gunpowder treason made but little difference in the line of his religious policy. With a laudable magnanimity, he refrained from visiting the sins of the few upon the heads of the many, and continued to pursue the same course of mildness and conciliation to the last. There is a supposition that, in James's toleration of the Papists, he had in view the increased indulgences which his own subjects might expect in foreign countries.* Again, less laudable motives may be attributed to him. It is not impossible but that he sought to balance the power of the Roman Catholics against the augmenting influence of the Puritans. Possibly, too, his apprehensions of personal danger were not without their weight : James must have been well aware of the risk which he incurred should he make himself odious to a daring and relentless party.f It has also been supposed, and not without reason, that the exertions and sufferings of the Eoman Catholics, in behalf of his unhappy mother, may in some degree have influenced him in his praiseworthy moderation. But there is a more substantial reason for withholding unqualified praise from James for his religious toleration. * Heylin's Life of Land, p. 386. t Unmet evidently attributes the King's moderation to fear. He says that ever after the Gunpowder Conspiracy, James was careful of not provoking the Jesuits, for it showed him of what they were capable. Hist, of his own Time, voL i. p. 19. JAMES I. 89 It is not generally known, perhaps, that two unhappy creatures were burnt for heresy during his reign. One of these, Bartholomew Legate, a Socinian, is said to have been remarkable for theological learning, and for the blamelessness of his career. James attempted to convert him ; but finding him fired in his persuasions, the bishops declared him to be an intractable heretic, and he was burnt to ashes at Smithfield. The other victim was one Edward Wightman, a harmless enthusiast, who had the misfortune to fancy himself Elias. The heresies of Ebion, Cerinthus, Yalentinian, Arius, Macedonius, Simon Magus, Manes, Manichaeus, Photinus, and the Anabaptists, names of which the unhappy being had probably never heard, were summed up in the warrant for his execution.* "We must, however, do James the justice to remark, that, like most of his contemporaries, he had been brought up in the belief that heresy was high-treason against the Almighty, and ought to be punished by death. Indeed, though his detestation of the offence never abated, he was among the first to discover that such executions as we have referred to were abhorrent to the heart of man, and that it was no less impolitic to convert fanatics into martyrs. The suspicion, which was very commonly entertained at the time, that James met his death by poison, has either been altogether disregarded, or obscurely hinted at, by our historians. So usual has it ever been to attribute the deaths of princes to foul play, that we must receive with extreme caution any arguments which may be brought forward in support of any such supposi- tion in the present case. The fact that Buckingham and * See Fuller's Church History, and Southey's Book of the Church, p. 434. 90 JAMES I. his mother applied remedies to the sick monarch, unknown to, and unauthorised by the physicians, seems to be beyond a doubt. Whether, however, those remedies were of an injurious nature, and intended to destroy existence, is a circumstance much less probable. Certain it is, indeed, that Buckingham was fast declining in the royal favour, and that he had everything to gain, and nothing to lose, by the King's demise at that particular time. Moreover, Dr. Eglisham, one of the royal physicians, actually accused Buckingham, in print, of having murdered his sovereign ; and another of the King's physicians, Dr. Craig, was banished the court for giving utterance to his suspicions. The latter individual was great-uncle to Bishop Burnet, who informs us that his father had the account from Craig, and was by him strongly prepossessed with the truth of the accusation. " The King," says Coke, " having had an ague, the Duke of Buckingham did, upon Monday, the 21st, when in the judgment of the physicians the ague was declining, apply plaisters to the wrists and belly of the King, and also did deliver several quantities of drink to the King, though some of the King's physicians did disallow thereof, and refused to meddle further with the King, until the said plaisters were removed ; and that the King found himself worse thereupon, and that droughts, raving, fainting, and an intermitting pulse followed hereupon; and the drink was twice given by the Duke's own hands, and a third time refused ; and the physicians to comfort him, telling him that his second impairment was from cold taken, or some other cause : ' No, no,' said the King, ' it is that which I had from Buckingham.' " Weldon says, that during the King's illness, he frequently implored the Earl of Montgomery to be careful that he had fair play ; and JAMES I. 91 that, on one occasion, when his servants were endeavouring to console him, " Ah," he said, "it is not the ague that afflicts me, but the powder I have taken, and the black plaisterthey have laid on mj stomach." A less suspicious authority is Bishop Goodman, who, while he entirely exculpates Buckingham, evidently believes that his old master met with an untimely end. " I have no good opinion," he says, " of his death, yet I was the last man who did him homage in the extremity of his sickness." Howell, who was at Theobalds at the time of the King's death, in a letter to his father, alludes to the mutter- ings of the doctors, that a plaister had been applied by the Duke's mother, to the " outside of the King's stomach." Arthur Wilson, another contemporary writer, does not materially differ from the foregoing accounts. " The King," he says, " that was very much impatient in his health, was patient in his sickness and death. Whether he had received anything that extorted his aguish fits into a fever, which might the sooner stupify the spirits, and hasten his end, cannot be asserted ; but the Countess of Buckingham had been tampering with him, in the absence of the doctors, and had given him a medicine to drink, and laid a plaister on his side, of which the King much complained, and they did rather exasperate his distemper than allay it : and these things were admitted by the insinuating persuasions of the Duke her son, who told the King they were approved medicines, and would do him much good. And though the Duke often strove to purge himself for this application, as having received both medicine and plaister from Dr. Remington, at Dunmow, in Essex, who had often cured agues and such distempers with the same ; yet they were arguments of a complicated kind not easy to unfold ; considering that 92 JAMES I. whatsoever lie received from the doctor in the country, he might apply to the King what he pleased in the court." It would be curious to ascertain the nature and ingredients of the remedies which were applied by Buckingham. Bishop Kennett informs us, that he was shown a copy of Dr. Eglisham's pamphlet against Buckingham, by the Spanish ambassador, in which Eglisham declared, that neither he nor the other physi- cians could discover the nature of the plaister. It appears also, by the same authority, that about a week after the King's death, Eglisham being on a visit with Sir Matthew Lister at the Earl of "Warwick's house in Essex, situated close to the residence of Dr. Eemington, they sent for the doctor, in order to ascertain the nature of the plaister which he had supplied to Buckingham. Eemington giving them the information required, Sir Matthew Lister produced a piece of the plaister which had been applied to the King. On examining it, Eemington seemed much surprised, and offered to take an oath that it was not the same which he had sent to the Duke.* There is a copy of Eglisham's pamphlet in the British Museum, which has been reprinted in the Harleian Miscellany ; but there is no trace of the passage alluded to by Kennett. Sanderson, another writer of the time, assures us that the drink given to James was "a posset of milk and ale, hartshorn, and marygold flowers, ingredients harmless and ordinary." With regard to the plaister, he says, " that although the physicians were justly offended at the Duke's interference with their practice, yet that the composition was as harmless as the drink, and that a portion of it was even eat by those who had manufactured it." Eor some * Wilson in Kennett, vol. ii. p. 790. JAMES I. 1)3 months afterwards, he says, it was open to the examina- tion of the curious. Eglisham's pamphlet,* though undoubtedly curious, is only to be received as evidence, when corroborated by the assertions of other -writers. After the King's death, he gave such unguarded utterance to his suspicions, as to render it necessary for his own safety that he should fly the kingdom. He retired to Brussels, where he published the tract in question. It had been, in the first instance, submitted, in the form of a petition, to the two houses of Parliament ; but whether it was actually presented, does not appear. It was afterwards translated into High Dutch, with a view of throwing obloquy upon the royal family of England.f The suspicions of Eglisham's veracity are founded on the extreme ran- corous feeling which he exhibits towards Buckingham, and some internal absurdities to which we shall hereafter allude. The following passage is more remarkable, from its being borne out, in a great degree, by the evidence of the writers already recited : " The King being sick of a certain ague, which in the spring was of itself never found deadly, the Duke took this opportunity, when all the doctors of physic were at dinner, upon the Monday before the King died, without their knowledge or consent, and offered to him a white powder to take, the which he a long time refused; but overcome with his flattering importunity, at length took it in wine, and immediately became worse and worse, falling into many swoonings and pains, and violent fluxes of the belly, so tormented, that his Majesty cried out aloud of this white powder, * " The Forerunner of Revenge, by George Eglisham, Doctor of Physic, and one of the Physicians to King James of happy memory, for his Majesty's person, above ten years' space. London : 1642." t Kennett's Complete Hist. vol. ii p. 790. 94 JAMES I. ' "Would to God I had never taken it ! it will cost me my life.' " In like manner also, the Countess of Buckingham, my Lord of Buckingham's mother, upon the Friday, the physicians being also absent and at dinner, and not made acquainted with her doings, applied a plaister to the King's heart and breast ; whereupon he grew faint and short-breathed, and in a great agony. Some of the phy- sicians after dinner, returning to see the King, by the offensive smell of the plaister, perceived something to be about him, hurtful to him, and searched what it should be, and found it out, and exclaimed that the King was poisoned. The Duke of Buckingham entering, commanded the physicians out of the .room, caused one of them to be committed prisoner to his own chamber, and another to be removed from court : quarrelled with others of the King's servants in his sick Majesty's own presence so far, that he offered to draw his sword against them in his Majesty's sight. And Buckingham's mother, kneeling down before his Majesty, cried out with a brazen face, 'Justice, justice, Sir, I demand justice of your Majesty ! ' His Majesty asked her for what ? ' For that which their lives are no ways sufficient to satisfy, for saying that my son and I have poisoned your Majesty.' ' Poisoned me ? ' said he ; with that turning himself, swooned, and she was removed.* "The Sunday after his Majesty died, Buckingham * Mr. Meade, in a letter to Sir Martin Stuteville, thus alludes to this remarkable scene : " The Countess of Buckingham, the Tuesday before he [the King] died, would needs make trial of some receipt she had approved ; but being without the privity of the physicians, occa- sioned so much discontent in Dr. Cragge, that he uttered some plain speeches, for which he was commanded out of the court, the Duke himself (as some say) complaining to the sick King of the word he spake." Ellis' 's Oriy. Letters, vol. iii. p. 183. JAMES I. 95 desired the physicians who attended his Majesty to sign with their own hands a writ of testimony, that the powder which he gave him was a good and safe medicine, which they refused. " Immediately after his Majesty's death, the physician, who was commanded to his chamber, was set at libeity, with a caveat to hold his peace ; the others threatened, if they kept not good tongues in their heads." Eglisham, moreover, accused the Duke, of having caused the death of the Marquis of Hamilton by poison. The following passage is too ridiculous for belief, and goes far to throw an air of fiction over Eglisham's extraordinary narration. The post-mortem appearance of the Marquis's body is thus described : " No sooner was he dead, when the force of the poison began to overcome the force of his body, but it began to swell in such sort, that his thighs were swollen six times as big as their natural proportion, his belly became as big as the belly of an ox, his arms as the natural quantity of his thighs, his neck as broad as his shoulders, his cheeks over the top of his nose, that his nose could not be seen or distinguished ; the skin of his forehead two fingers high. He was all over of divers colours, full of waters, some white, some black, some red, some yellow, some green, some blue, and that as well within his body as without. His mouth and nose foaming blood, mixed with froth of divers colours, a yard high." We are not informed by Dr. Eglisham, why the King's body did not exhibit similar evidences of foul play. Certain it is, that no traces of poison were discoverable. In a letter of the time, from Mr. Joseph Meade to Sir Martin Stuteville, we find that when the body was opened by the physicians, they found " his heart of an extra- ordinary bigness, all his vitals sound, as also his head, which was very full of brains ; but his blood was wonder- 96 JAMES I. fully tainted with melancholy ; and the corruption thereof supposed the cause of his death." * Sir Syinonds D'Ewes, who adds his quantum of suspicion to the " potion and plaister," informs us that when the King's skull was opened, ihepia mater was so full of brains that they could "scarcely be kept from -spilling." There is no allusion, however, in any documents of the time to the least trace of poison having been discovered. There is another curious tract, in the British Museum, purporting, after the manner of Lueian, to be a conversa- tion in the lower regions between James, the Duke of Buckingham, the Marquis of Hamilton, and Dr. Eglisham. The interview between the murderer and his victims is sufficiently tragical, and would do credit to any provincial theatre in the realm : " King James. Dost thou know me, Buckingham ? If our spirits or ghosts retain any knowledge of mortal actions, let us discourse together. " Buckingham. Honour hath not now transported me to forget your Majesty ; I know you to be the umbra or shade of my Sovereign, King James, unto whom Buck- ingham was once so great a favourite. But what ghost of Aristotle is that which bears you company ? His pale looks show him to be some scholar. " King James, It is the changed shadow of George Eglisham, for ten years together my doctor of physic, who, in the discharge of his place, was ever to me most faithful ; this other is his and my old friend, the Marquis of Hamilton. " Buckingham. My liege, I cannot discourse as long as they are present, they do behold me with such threaten- ing looks ; and your Majesty hath a disturbed brow, as if you were offended with your servant, Buckingham. * Earl. MSS. p 3S9 ; Ellis's Orig. Letters, vol. iii. p. 12. J A m IE S, UiS OT 1 HAMILTON. OB: 1624, JAMES I. 97 " King James. I aud the Marquis of Hamilton have just cause to frown and be offended ; hast thou not been our most ungrateful murderer ? " Buckingham. Who I, my liege? "What act of mine could make you to suspect that I could do a deed so full of horror ? Produce a -witness to my forehead, before you condemn me upon bare suspicion. " King James. My doctor, Eglisham, shall prove it to thy face, and if thou hast but any sense of goodness, shall make thy pale ghost blush, ungrateful Buckingham ! " Shortly after this Eglisham steps forward, and with all proper dignity accuses the Duke, not only of having poisoned James and the Marquis, but of having plotted and contrived the Doctor's own departure from the world. Buckingham, staggered by the proofs \vhich are brought against him, at length confesses his crimes, and spouts, as he sweeps from the stage, a sort of dramatic epilogue, of which the following lines are the conclusion : You, good King, were gracious to that man, "Whose ghost you see, the Duke of Buckingham. But I was most ungrateful to my King, "j And Marquis Hamilton, whom I did bring > Both to untimely deaths, forgive my sin. J Great King, great Marquis, Doctor Eglisham, All murdered by the Duke of Buckingham. Forgive me all, and pardon me, I pray ; Th',s being said, the Duke's ghost shrunk away.* One of the articles of impeachment against the Duke of Buckingham, in the succeeding reign, was, not for having actually poisoned the King, but for having dared to administer remedies to the Sovereign, without the concurrence of the physicians. Charles, as is well known, to prevent the scandal which would be occasioned by * Harl. Misc., vol. v., p. 211. TOL. I. H 98 JAMES I. a public investigation of the Duke's conduct, braved the wrath 'of the Commons, and dissolved the Parlia- ment. There was another absurd attempt to stigmatise Buckingham as a wholesale poisoner. Eglisham asserts, in his petition to Parliament, that at the time of the Duke of Richmond's death, a paper was found in King Street, in which Buckingham had inserted the names of several noblemen, all of whom had since died. He adds that his own name came after the Marquis of Hamilton's with a proviso that he should le embalmed. This would be considered as mere nonsense, did it not appear by the evidence of Sir Henry Wotton that some such document really existed, though without doubt it was a forgery. " I had a commission laid upon me," says Sir Henry, " by sovereign command, to examine a lady about a certain filthy accusation, grounded upon nothing but a few names taken up by a footman in a kennel, and straight baptised. It was a list of such as the Duke had appointed to be poisoned at home, himself being then in Spain. I found it to be the most malicious and frantic surmise, and the most contrary to his nature, that I think had ever been brewed from the beginning of the world." Wotton speaks of Eglisham as a " fugitive physician," and corroborates a statement made by San- derson, on the authority of Sir Belthaser Grerbier, that when Eglisham offered to publish a recantation of his scandalous pamphlet, for a certain remuneration, the Duke listened to the overture with indignation and dis- gust.* That Buckingham, indeed, should have joined in so detestable a conspiracy, notwithstanding his many faults, is in utter contradiction to all our preconceived notions of his character. King James died on the 27th of March, 1625, in the * Reliquiae Wottonianse, p. 177 ; Sanderson T>. 593. JAMES I. SJU fifty-ninth year of his age, and the twenty -third of his reign over the kingdom of England. On the 7th of May he was buried at Westminster with proper solemnity. "We will conclude our notices of him with Ben Jonson's admirable character of the weak monarch, in his Masque of the Gypsies Metamorphosed. One of the wandering tribe is supposed to discover the King's identity, by her professional knowledge of palmistry : With you, lucky bird, I begin, let me see, I aim at the best, and I trow you are he ; Here's some luck already, if I understand The grounds of my art, here's a gentleman's hand. I '11 kiss it for luck's sake. You shall by this line, Love a horse and a hound, but no part of a swine ;* To hunt the brave stag, not so much for your food, As the weal of your body, and the health of your blood. You're a man of good means, and have territories store, Both by sea and by land ; and were born, sir, to more ; "Which you, like a lord, and the prince of your peace, Content with your havings, despise to increase : You live chaste and single, and have buried your wife, And mean not to marry by the line of your life. Whence he that conjectures your quality, learns You're an honest good man, and take care of your bair^B. Your Mercury's hilt, too, a wit doth betoken, Some book-craft you have, and are pretty well spoken : But stay, in your Jupiter's mount what is here ? A Monarch ! a King ! what wonders appear ! High, bountiful, just ; a Jove for your parts, A master of men, and that reign in their hearts. * The abhorrence which James entertained for a pig, has already been mentioned. H 2 100 ANNE OF DENMARK, QUEEN OF JAMES I. Jloral Character of the Queen of James I. Her Contempt for her Husband His real Dislike and affected Fondness for her Her Manners on arriving in Scotland Her personal Appearance Her Catholic Bigotry Her Attachment to Vanities and Amusements James's Anxiety that his "Wife shonld appear with Splendour among his English Subjects Indecorous Character of the Court Masks and Plays The Queen addicted to Gallantry Her Lover, the Earl of Murray James's Jealousy of the Earl Assassination of the latter by the Earl of Huntley Huntley's Flight and Con- cealment The King implicated in the Deed Alexander Ruthven and the Queen The Ribbon given by the Queen to her young Lover Supposed Origin of the pretended Gowrie Conspiracy The Queen's Favourites Lord Herbert of Cherbury Death of the Qneen Remarkable Constellation Cause of the Queen's Death Her Friendship for Sir Walter Raleigh Her Letter to the Duke of Buckingham interceding for Sir Walter's life Vindication of her Character by old Writers Her Children. OF DENMAEK appears to have been remarkable for all those masculine qualities in which her husband was so sadly deficient. Ambitious, bold, enterprising ; fond of tumult, grandeur, and gaudy costume ; impatient of control ; engaging in all the civil and religious factions of the period ; despising her timorous and pedantic hus- band, and yet vainly endeavouring to govern him and his councils, she failed in her objects from want of capacity, yet saved herself from obloquy by the deepest cunning. James, subservient as he may have been to his passions and his favourites however deficient also in moral and personal courage, was at least no dastard to his wife. ANNE OF DENMARK. 101 With all her turbulence and high spirit, she never obtained the slightest influence over her easy spouse. No two people could be more unlike : the only simi- larity of character was in a mutual admiration of masculine beauty. Anne, second daughter of Frederic the Second, King of Denmark, was born at Scanderburg, on the 12th of December, 1575. When in her fifteenth year, she was united to James by proxy on the 20th of August, 1589 ; and on the 19th of November following they met for the first time on the rugged shores of Norway, whither James had hastened for the purpose of escorting her to Scotland. Thwarted in her ambitious views, and piqued at being compelled to yield to a man whom she thoroughly despised, the petulance, and even violence, of the young Queen exceeded all bounds. She was in the habit, at Edinburgh, of forcing herself into the King's presence, for the mere purpose of ridiculing him, and diverting herself at his expense. His life is even said to have been in danger from her violence. The worst trait, however, in her character was her endeavour to prejudice her children against their father. The contempt of his parent, with which she inspired Prince Henry, was pro- bably, in a great degree, the origin of James's want of natural affection for his son.* After his accession to the throne of England, James almost entirely separated himself from his ungovernable wife. Peyton says, that though he sometimes visited her through compliment, he never " lodged with her a night for many years." Notwithstanding, however, their nocturnal estrangement, James, in his Edict on Duels, continues speaking of her as our dearest bed-fellow. He * Carte's History of England, vol. ii., p. 748. 102 ANXE OF DENMAEK, was indeed ever anxious to impress his subjects with a notion of his uxoriousness. Osborne mentions an instance of this, when he himself was present, on which occa- sion James, before proceeding on one of his hunting expeditions, took a sort of public farewell of his Queen, " Taking leave of her at her coach-side, by kissing her sufficiently to the middle of her shoulders, for so low she went bare all the days I had the fortune to know her." Weldon says, that James was ever best when farthest from his Queen. Her manners, on her first arrival in Scotland, were but little calculated to conciliate the people among whom she came to reside. The writer of a letter among the Cecil Papers, thus speaks of her at this period : " Our Quein carys a marvelus gravity, quhilk, w* her patriall solitarines, contrar to y e humor of our pepell hath bannised all our ladys clein from her." * The Queen's manners afterwards improved. Lady Arabella Stuart, in a letter to the Earl of Shrewsbury, dated from the Court at Woodstock, gives her the highest praise for courtesy, and remarks that she was in the habit of speaking kindly to the people, whom she happened to meet in her way.f This statement is corroborated by another letter from Sir Dudley Carleton to Sir Thomas Parry, in which the writer observes, " The Queen lieth this night at Sir John Fortescue's, where the King meets her. She giveth great contentment to the world in her fashion and courteous behaviour to the people. "J According to the testimony of a foreigner,* who visited England shortly after the accession of James, her manner was kind and gracious to those who suited her capricious fancy, but proud, disdainful, and even * Lodge's Illustrations of English Historv, vol. iii., p. 2. t Ibid., p. 177. J Ellis, Orig. Letters, vol. iii., p. 82. QUEEN OF JAMES I. 103 positively insupportable, to those who had unfortunately incurred her dislike. * Of the merits of Queen Anne's personal appearance \ve know very little. From the miniature of her attached to the insignia of the Order of the Thistle among the Crown jewels of Scoltand, and also from the portrait of her at Hampton Court, taken apparently when she was about sixteen years of age, there is reason to believe that in early youth her countenance was not unlovely. The portraits of her, however, drawn at a late period of her life, are principally indicative of a masculine disposition, while they display a singularly tawdry and tasteless style of dress. The beauty of Queens is seldom left uncele- brated ; and as historians are almost all silent on the present occasion, there is reason to suppose that there was little room for panegyric. Peyton alone styles her, " A body of a goodly presence, beautiful eyes, and strong to be joined with a prince young and weak in constitution ; a union unsuitable for a virago to couple with a spiny and thin creature." Osborne's praise is somewhat dubious : " Her skin," he says, " was more amiable than the features it covered, though not the disposition, in which report rendered her very debonnaire." Bishop Goodman remarks that there was little in her person to make his Majesty uxorious. Anne, at least at one period of her life, was a bigoted Catholic, a fact not generally dwelt upon by historians. It is strange, that Horace Walpole, a curious researcher, should have been long ignorant of this important circum- stance. Speaking of the Bacon papers, he says, there is " one most extraordinary passage, entirely overlooked, and yet of great consequence to explain the misfortunes into which her descendants afterwards fell. The Pope send* * Raumer's Contributions to History, p. 461. 10-i ANNE OF DENMARK, Tier leads and reliques, and thanks her for not comumni- cating icith heretics at her coronation." * Sully, however, was not only acquainted "with the fact, but evidently dreaded, lest she should exercise her influence in advancing the interests of Spain and of the Soman Catholic faith. AVhen she followed the King from Scotland, it was rumoured, he says, that she was coming to England, in order to add her personal influence to the Spanish faction; a circumstance which so disturbed the King, that he sent the Earl of Lennox to endeavour to oppose her progress, and, if possible, to persuade her to return to Scotland. The Spaniards indeed, whose interests she adhered to in opposition to those of France, appear to have rested their hopes of destroying the Protestant faith in England principally on her influence and exertions.f She endea- voured to instil her prejudices, in favour of Spain and the Pope, into the mind of her son Prince Henry. Sully says, that none doubted but that she was inclined to declare herself " absolutely on that side ; " and that in public she affected to have the Prince entirely under her guidance. In a letter from Sir Charles Cornwallis to the Earl of Salisbury, she is even stated to have told the Spanish Ambassador, that he might one day see the Prince of "Wales on a pilgrimage to St. Jago.J Time and experience appear at length to have convinced her of the inflexibility of her husband's disposition, and of her own incapacity for meddling in state affairs. "With the exception of some occasional interference in the rise or downfal of a favourite, she seems to have contented. * Royal and Noble Authors. Lord Orford's Works, vol. iii., p. 273. The Queen, at her coronation, had refused to receive the sacrament according to the rites of the Church of England. BircKs State Papers* vol. ii., p. 504. t Birch's Life of Prince Henry, p. 45. J Winwood, Memorials, vol. iii., p. 12. QUEEN OF JAMES I. 105 herself with entertaining the King and his courtiers vrith balls and masques. " The arrival of the Queen in Lon- don," says Sully, " did not occasion all that disorder which had been apprehended ; the discontented found her not to be what they had conceived. It seemed as though her sudden change of situation and country had made as sudden a change in her inclinations and manners : from an effect in the elegances of England, or from those of the royal dignity, she became disposed to vanities and amusements, and seemed wholly engaged in the pursuit of pleasure. She so entirely neglected or forgot the Spanish politics, as gave reason to believe she had, in reality, only pretended to be attached to them." King James had quitted Edinburgh for his new dominions on the 5th of April, 1603 ; and in June fol- lowing, accompanied by her two eldest children, Prince Henry and the Princess Elizabeth, the Queen prepared to follow him. James, either willing to gratify her taste for show, or desirous that his wife should appear among his new subjects with all due magnificence, not only gave the strictest orders for her honourable reception, but even commanded the late Queen's jewels to be transmitted to her, before then* former possessor had been laid in the grave. On the 15th of April we find him writing to his ministers : " Touching the jewels to be sent for our wife, our meaning is not to have any of the principal jewels of state to be sent so soon or so far off; but only such as, by the opinion of the ladies attendant about the late Queen our sister, you shall find to be meet for the ordi- nary apparelling and ornament of her ; the rest may come after when she shall be nearer hand. But we have thought good to put you in mind, that it shall be convenient that besides jewels you send some of the ladies of alt degrees 106 ANNE OF DENMARK, who -were about the Queen, as soon as the funeral be past, or some others, whom you will think meetest and most willing and able to abide travel, to meet her as far as they can at her entry into the realm, or soon after ; for that we hold needful for her honour : and that they do speedily enter into their journey, for that we would have her here with the soonest. And as for horses, litters, coaches, saddles, and other things of that nature, whereof we have heretofore written, for her use, and sent to you our cousin of "Worcester, we have thought good to let you know that the proportion mentioned in your par- ticular letter to us shall suffice in our opinion for her. And so you may take order for the sending of them away with the ladies that are to come, or before, as you shall think meetest." * The Queen arrived at York on the llth of June ; and after remaining there for some days, and resting at Dingley, Althorpe, and other places in her progress, she proceeded to East Neston, the seat of Sir George Fermor, where she was joined by the King. For her splendid entertainments, those magnificent masques which made the " nights more costly than the days," she has been often and sufficiently celebrated. They appear, however, to have been conducted with but little attention to decorum. The Countess of Dorset mentions in her memoirs, that there was " much talk of a mask which the Queen had at Winchester, and how all the ladies about the court had gotten such ill names, that it was grown a scandalous place ; and the Queen herself was much fallen from her former greatness and reputation she had in the world." Peyton's censure is far stronger : " The masks," he says, " and plays at Whitehall were used only as incentives for debauchery, * Ellis, Orig. Letters, rol. iii., p. 70. QUEEN OF JAMES I. 107 therefore the courtiers invited the citizens' wives to those shows. Whatever share the Queen may have had in effecting a kind understanding between the courtiers and the citizens' wives, it is certain that she herself was far from being averse to the tender passion. Carte tells us that she took a great delight in making the King jealous, and u-itli this view took liberties which were very improper, and were the cause of some excitement at court. Accord- ing to the chronicles or scandal of the time, she was far from being satisfied with the cold attentions and ungainly form of her pedantic spouse. The first person on whom the Queen is reported to have fixed her affections was the brave, the beautiful, and unfortunate Earl of Murray. This is the "Bonnie Earl" of Scottish song; a name dear to those whose hearts have ever kindled with poetry, or sympathised with misfortune. A well-known ballad of the period has an interesting allusion to the Queen's attachment : " Ye Highlands and ye Lowlands, Oh, where have ye been ? They've slain the Earl of Murray, And laid him on the green. " Now woe betide thee, Huntley ! And wherefore did ye sae ? I bade ye bring him with you, And forbade you him to slay. " He was a braw gallant, And he rode at the ring ; And the bonny Earl of Murray, He might have been a king. *' He was a braw gallant, And he played at the ba* ; And the bonny Earl of Murray Was the flower among them a . 103 ANNE OF DENMARK *' He was a traw gallant, And be played at the glove ; And the benny Earl of Zfurrzy. lie uas the Queen's love. " Oh, long -will his lady Look o'er Castle Downe, Ere she see the Earl of Murray Coine sounding through the town." The Earl is also celebrated in the still popular ballad of Childe Waters : " Our Queen looted o'er the castle vr& } Beheld both dale and down ; And then she saw young Waters Come riding to the town," &c. James has been accused of having sacrificed the EaiTs life to his jealousy of the Queen. This supposition we should be extremely inclined to doubt, had not our suspi- cions been already aroused by the circumstances attending the tragical fate of the Gowries. Murray -was accused, whether wrongfully or justly is not known, of having abetted the Earl of Bothwell in his famous attack upon the King's person in Scotland : James, instead of making use of legitimate means to insure the apprehension of the suspected Earl, commissioned the Earl of Huntley, Murray's hereditary and deadly enemy, to bring him into his presence. Murray was not exactly the man to submit tamely to be made a prisoner by his feudal foe. A shot from his castle killed one of Huntley's followers. The storming party became furious and succeeded in burning the fortress. Murray, finding further opposition hopeless, endeavoured to effect his escape by rushing through the flames ; but unfortunately, his long hair catching fire, ifc enabled his enemies to track him in the darkness to the rocks by the sea- shore, amongst which V>e had hoped to QUEEN OF JAMES I. 109 find a hiding-place. He defended himself as long as lie was able, but fell at last covered with wounds. One Gordon, of Buckie, who had been the first to strike him, insisted that Huntley should implicate himself in the odium, by joining in the bloody work, and stabbing his defenceless enemy before he died. Huntley consented, and stabbed Murray in the face. The dying Earl lixed his eyes on his hereditary fee: "You have spoiled," he said, " a better face than your own." Huntley had actually alighted from his horse to perform the dastardly act. Murray's friends refused to bury him till they had avenged his death.* Huntley, after the execrable deed, continued for some tims in real or affected concealment. During his flight he applied for refuge and hospitality at Lord Sinclair's castle of Ravenscraig. Lord Sinclair told him that he was welcome, but that he would have been much more welcome if he had passed on. However, notwithstanding this rough reception, Lord Sinclair entertained him kindly, and conducted him in safety to the Highlands. Huntley, shortly afterwards, returned to Edinburgh, where ha escaped with a brief imprisonment. A suspicion certainly rests upon James. In the Advo- cates' Library in Edinburgh are preserved the MS. annals of Sir James Balfour, Lyon King at Arms, who was living at the time, and who inserts among his papers the fol- lowing curious annotation : " The seventh of February this year, 1592, the Earl of Murray was cruelly murdered by the Earl of Huntley, at his house in Dumbrissel, in Fifeshire ; and with him Dunbar, Sheriff of Murray. It was given out and publicly talked, that the Earl of Huntley was only the instru- ment of perpetrating this fate, to satisfy the King's Spotswood, p. 3S7. 110 ANNE OP DENMARK, jealousy of Murray, whom the Queen, more rashly than wisely, some few days before, had commended in the King's hearing, with too many epithets of a proper and gallant man." The story is in some degree corroborated by Oldmixon. " I have it," he says, " from the best authority, that the King conceived a mortal hatred against the Earl of Murray for an expression of his wife Queen Anne, who, looking out at a window and seeing that Lord entering the court, said he was the handsomest man she ever saw. ' "What/ said the King, ' handsomer than I ?' and swore he would have his life." * A supposition has long existed that the unfortunate John Earl of Growrie was a favoured lover of Queen Anne. There is, however, every reason to believe, that it was not the Earl, but his younger brother, Alexander Kuthven, the sharer of his tragical fate, whom the Queen regarded with kindness. f More than one writer has endeavoured to trace the secret history of the Gowrie conspiracy from the existence of this romantic amour. They even assert that the whole plot was a mere coun- terfeit, contrived by James himself, in order to revenge himself by the destruction of his rival. This supposition, though contrary to the King's well-known character for timidity, is yet in some degree consonant with his ideas and system of king-craft ; and, though it requires con- firmation, is not altogether unsupported by correlative circumstances. The following story, the authority for which appears to rest entirely on traditional report, was inserted in * History of the Stuarts, p. 10. + See Pmkerton's Essay subjoined to Laing's History of Scotland r also Life and Death of John, Earl of Gowrie (Edinburgh, 1818); and Peyton's Divine Catastrophe. QUEEN" OF JAMES I. Ill Cant's notes on " the Muse's Threnody," and is related by Pinkerton in his Essay on the Gowrie Conspiracy : The Q.ueen, it appears, in a moment of affection, had presented Alexander Euthven with a ribbon, which some time before had been given to her by the King, and which Euthven, in his gallantry, hung round his neck. One fine summer day, the young courtier, being in the royal garden at Falkland, threw himself under the shade of a tree, where he fell fast asleep. The weather, being extremely sultry, had induced him to leave his neck and bosom uncovered. James, happening to pass by, paused for a moment to look at the sleeping Adonis, and per- ceived the fatal ribbon which he had so recently presented to his Queen. He was exceedingly disconcerted, and instead of continuing his walk, returned to the palace. His movement, however, was observed by a young lady of the court (supposed to be Lady Beatrice Euthven, the sleeper's sister), who instantly tore the ribbon from her brother's neck, and rushing with it into the Queen's presence, requested her Majesty to place it in a drawer, remarking hurriedly that the motive of her proceeding would shortly be discovered. As the young lady retired by one door, the King entered by another, and desired the Queen, who was in the sixth month of her pregnancy with Charles the First, to produce the ribbon which he had lately given to her. Anne, without the slightest discomposure, drew it from the drawer in which she had just deposited it, and placed it in the King's hands. James examined it for some time, observing as he returned it, " Evil take me, if like be not an ill mark." * That Alexander Euthven, and not his brother Lord Gowrie, was the object of the Queen's regard, seems to * Life of John, Earl of Gowrie, p. 141. ANNE OP DENMARK, be confirmed by a letter from Sir Henry Nevill, dated London, 15th November, 1600 : " Out of Scotland," he writes, " we hear there is no good agreement between the King of Scots and his wife, and many are of opinion that, ilie discovery of some affection between lier and the Earl of Goivrie's brother (who was killed ivith him) was the truest cause and motive of all that tragedy" * If the famous Lord Herbert of Cherbury, in his inte- resting life of himself, had afforded fewer instances of personal vanity, we should have imagined that the Queen had entertained a feeling, somewhat warmer than friend- ship, for that handsome and gallant philosopher. Lord Herbert, after mentioning that Bichard, Earl of Dorset, had paid him the compliment of secretly obtaining a copy of his picture, from the hands of one Larking, who had painted the original, thus evidently alludes to her Majesty's predilection: "But a greater person," he says, " than I will here nominate, got another copy from Larking ; and placing it afterwards in her cabinet, gave occasion to those who saw it after her death, of more discourse than I could have wished." In another place he adds: "And now in court a great person sent for me divers times to attend her, which summons though I obeyed, yet God knoweth I declined coming to her as much as conveniently I could without incurring her displeasure." Her mother remonstrated with her on the impropriety of her con- duct, through the medium of her brother Ulric, Duke of Holstein. The interference, however, appears to have excited her anger, without in the least reforming her morals.f In the latter period of her life, the Queen seems * Win-wood's Memorials, vol. i., p. 274. t Carte's History of England, vol. ii., p. 743. QUEEN OF JAMES I. ] 13 voluntarily to have resigned the vanities of the world, and to have exchanged the frivolities of Somerset House and "Whitehall, for the peaceful seclusion of Hampton Court and Greenwich. Queen Anne died at Hampton Court on the 1st of March, 1619, shortly after taking a last farewell of her favourite son Prince Charles. Sanderson says, " A lingering sickness and fulness of humours brought her to a dropsy, and for her recovery, she some years before frequented the Bath, with con- tinual physic." On the 5th of the same month, we are informed that her entrails were placed in a sexangular box or case, and interred by her servants in Henry the Seventh's Chapel at "Westminster. On the 9th, her body was conveyed at night to Somerset House, formerly the temporary resting-place for the remains of the great, between the chamber of death and their last home. The Queen was finally interred at "Westminster, on the 13th of May, 1619. Such is the importance which the vulgar attach to rank, that a remarkable constellation, which appeared in the heavens shortly before her death, was considered as prophetic of that event. Bushworth says, " The common people, who were great admirers of princes, were of opinion that the blazing-star rather betokened the death of the Queen, than that cruel and bloody war which shortly after happened in Bohemia, and other parts of Germany." Howel also says, in one of his amusing letters, " Queen Anne is lately dead of a dropsy, which is held to be one of the fatal events that fol- lowed the last fearful comet. She left a world of brave jewels behind ; but one Piero, an outlandish man, who had the keeping of them, embezzled many, and is run away. She left all she had to Prince Charles, whom she ever loved best of all her children ; nor do VOL. L X 114 ANNE OP DENMARK, I hear of any legacy she left at all to her daughter in Germany." Such are the principal particulars which we have been enabled to collect, respecting a lady to whom our prin- cipal historians have attached but little importance. Kapin says nothing of her character, and Hume dismisses her with remarkable brevity, as a " woman eminent neither for her vices nor her virtues." Echard, on the contrary, who probably adopted the panegyric of Arthur Wilson, speaks of her in the highest terms : " She died," he says, " to the deep concern of all good men and loyal subjects, leaving behind her the name of a peaceable and dutiful wife, and a virtuous and pious Queen." The same writer, however, speaks of James as " a very melancholy widower," whereas we find the easy monarch publicly enjoying himself at a horse-race, not many days after the breath had departed from the body of his Queen. One word may fairly be said in favour of Anne of Denmark. She had the taste and the feeling to be a kind friend and sincere admirer of the great Sir "Walter Raleigh. The following letter, praying the Duke of Buckingham to intercede for Sir Walter's life, is pre- served in the British Museum ;* and besides its internal interest, exhibits what slight influence the Queen must have possessed over her husband : ANNA E., MY KIND Doa, If I have any power or credit with you, I pray you let me have a triall of it at this time, in dealing sincerely and earnestly with the King, that Sir Walter Ealeigh's life may not be called in question. If you do it so that * MS. Additional, 4162 (Birch), Art. 60. QUEEN OP JAMES I. 115 y e success answer my expectation, assure yourself that I will take it extraordinary kindly at your hands, and rest one that wisheth you well, and desires you to con- tinue still, as you have been, a true servant to your master. To y* Marquiss of Buckingham. A few of the Queen's letters to her husband, from the originals in the Advocates' Library in Edinburgh, have recently been published. They commonly com- mence, " My heart," and are generally brief, playful, and common-place.* Having said much that is adverse to the Queen's character, it may be right to mention (which we shall do as briefly as possible) the words of those writers who have endeavoured to rescue her name from obloquy. Sir Anthony Weldon styles her a " very brave Queen, who never crossed her husband's designs, nor inter- meddled with state affairs." Harris says, that though, she died without much lamentation from the King, " she was not unbeloved by the people." The praise which Arthur Wilson bestows ou her is still higher : " She was in her great condition a good woman, not tempted from that height she stood on to embroil her spirit much with things below her (as some busy-bodies do), only giving herself content in her own house with such recreations as might not make time tedious to her. And, though great persons' actions are often pried into, and made envy's mark, yet nothing could be fixed upon her that left any great impression, but that she may have engraven upon her monument a character for virtue." These writers, however, because they hated and abused * Letters tj King James the Sixth from his family. Edinburgh, 1835. I 2 116 ANNE OF DENMAKK, the King, may have thought it incumbent upon them to extol his Queen. Sir Henry "Wotton, who might have been expected to have said more, in his panegyric of King Charles contents himself with calling her " a lady of a great and masculine mind." * If these encomiums, however, be considered as merely applicable to Anne, during the period she was Queen of England, it is not so easy to controvert them. In a negative point of view, she was neither factious to her husband, nor did she embroil herself with politics ; but it was perhaps for the reason that she was excluded from access to the one, and interference with the other. That she was tolerably popular, is not to be wondered at. The public had no reason to lay their grievances to her charge: of restless passions and disappointed ambition they knew nothing : to her inferiors, her manners appear latterly to have been courteous and conciliating ; be- sides, her entertainments were frequent and splendid, and, with the vulgar, magnificence is the sure precursor of popularity. The Queen's principal residence was at Somerset House, at that period called Denmark House, in honour of the country which gave her birth. Her children were Henry, Prince of Wales ; Eobert, Margaret, Sophia, and Mary, the last four of whom died young ; Charles, who succeeded to the throne, and Elizabeth, married to the Elector Palatine. Sophia, was born at Greenwich, 22nd June, 1606, and survived her birth but three days. She was buried near the tomb of Queen Elizabeth, in Henry the -VII. 's Chapel. Mary was also born at Greenwich. Fuller tells us that no one ever remembered the cere- mony of baptism to have been celebrated with so much pomp, as on the occasion of this infant Princess being * Reliquiae Wottonianse, p. 144. QUEEN OP JAMES 1. 117 received into the Church. James used to say, with more humour than, reverence, that he did not pray to the Virgin Mary, but for the virgin Mary. This princess also died in her infancy, and was buried at "Westminster. 118 HENRY PRINCE OF WALES. Character of this Prince His Birth, and Ceremony of his Christening The Earl of Mar appointed to be his Guardian Henry's Child- hood Anecdotes of him and his Tutor, Adam Newton Henry invested with the Order of the Garter Created Prince of Wales His early Military Taste Interest taken in the Young Prince by Henry IV. of France Prince Henry's Project of recovering Calais from the French His Fondness for Naval Affairs Pett the Naval Architect and the Prince Henry's Amusements Instances of his Wit His Esteem for Sir Walter Raleigh His magni6cent Collection of Books, Medals, Statues, Coins, &c. His Love for the Society of the Learned His Court at St. James's Palace His Admiration of Lady Essex Unsuccessful Project of Marriage Henry's Zeal for Protestantism His deep Sense of Religion, and Horror of Swearing Anecdote of the Prince and the Earl of Essex James's Jealousy of the Prince Description of Henry's person His last Illness and Death Prediction of Bruce the Astrologer Suspicion that Henry was poisoned Horrible Surmise against his Father Character of the Prince by Sir C. Cornwallis. THIS darling of his contemporaries, the Marcellus of his age, was justly beloved and regretted as one of those princes who have been most remarkable for the precocity of their talents and their untimely ends. With a taste for all that adds grace to society, or dignity to human, nature ; with every quality that might have been expected to form both a great and a good king ; uniting a love of literature and science with a chivalrous thirst for military reputation (that graceful combination which formed the brilliant characters of such men as Lord Herbert of Cherbury,Sir Kenelm Digby,and the Admirable Crichton); mingling a Christian, temper with a Eoman virtue ; with MEMRY PRD^CE OF OB, 1612, HENRY PRINCE OF WALES. 119 nil the pleasant characteristics, and none of the irregular- ities of youth ; it is not to be wondered that the historian lingers fondly over the page which records the brief but beautiful career of Henry Prince of Wales. Prince Henry Frederick, the eldest son of James the First and Anne of Denmark, was born in Stirling Castle on the 19th of February, 1594. Lord Zouch was deputed by Queen Elizabeth to congratulate the happy parents on the birth of their heir. A brief account of a royal christening, in the sixteenth century, especially as an Archbishop has condescended to detail it, may not be uninteresting. On the day appointed for the ceremony, the infant was brought from its own apartment to the Queen's presence-chamber, in which a state bed was prepared for its reception. As soon as the Foreign Ambassadors were arrived, the Countess of Mar, with the assistance of other ladies, took the Prince from his bed, and delivered him to the Duke of Lennox, by whom he was formally presented to the Ambassadors. The pro- cession then marched to the chapel in the following order, and it is not a little amusing to observe the way in which the rude and warlike Scottish nobles were employed on. the occasion: First went Lord Hume, carrying the ducal crown of Eothsay ; then Lord Livingston, bearing the "towel or napkin," Lord Seaton, carrying the bason, and Lord Semple the "Laver." Next followed the English Ambassador, the Earl of Sussex, who, as having the place of honour awarded to him, bore the royal baby in his arms. The infant Prince's train was supported by Lords Sinclair and Urquhart, and above him was a canopy sustained by four Scottish gentlemen of distinction. On the arrival of the procession at the door of the chapel, the King rose from his seat and received the Ambassadors at the entrance of the choir : the infant was then. presented 120 HENRY PRINCE OF WALES. to the Duke of Lennox, who delivered him over to the nurse. The Ambassadors having been ceremoniously conducted to the seats which had been prepared for them, "every chair having a tassel board covered with fine velvet," the service was performed by Cunningham, Bishop of Aberdeen. As soon as the ceremony was con- cluded, the procession returned in the same order to the royal apartments, and the Prince was again laid upon his bed of state. The Lyon herald then proclaimed his titles as follow : Henry Frederick, Knight and Baron of Renfrew, Lord of the Isles, Earl of Carrick, Duke of Kothsay, Prince and Steward of Scotland. Gold and silver were thrown out of the window among the popu- lace, and at night there was a splendid banquet, at which many knights were created. Plays and tilting were not wanting, and the rejoicings lasted for some days.* Henry, at his birth, had been committed to the charge of the Earl of Mar, in whose family was vested the here- ditary guardianship of the King's children. The Countess of Mar, who had formerly been the King's nurse, was installed in the same capacity to his son. There were many motives of state policy, which rendered it of the most vital importance to James to secure the safe custo- dianship of his first-born ; and accordingly it was for this purpose that he was committed to the charge of Lord Mar, in the strong palatial fortress of Stirling. Whether from the strength of her maternal feelings, or from her naturally rebellious disposition, the Queen turned a deaf and indignant ear to every argument, with which her husband endeavoured to reconcile her to a separation from her child. Failing in all the legitimate means by "which she sought to regain possession of the Prince, as * Spotewood, p. 406. HENRY PRINCE OP WALES. 121 also in her attempts to tamper with the Chancellor, and others of the Council, she at last leagued herself with the factious lords who were in open opposition to her hus- band, and had even formed a project of heading an armed force, which was to take Stirling Castle by storm, and restore her first-born to her maternal embraces. James, however, had timely advice of the intended treason. His anger was raised to the highest pitch, and accordingly we find him addressing the following letter to the Earl of Mar, by which he established him still more firmly in his office of guardian. It sufficiently exhibits the King's irritation, and his total independence of his wife : " MY LOBD OF MABBE, " Because in the surety of my son consisteth my surety, and I have concredited unto you the charge of his keep- ing, upon the trust I have of your honesty, this I com- mand you out of my own mouth, being in the company of those I like, otherwise for any charge or necessity that can come from me, you shall not deliver him ; and in case God call me at any time, see that neither for the Queen, nor estates their pleasure, you deliver him till he be eighteen years of age, and that he command you himself. "Striveling, 24th of July, 1595."* The Prince's extraordinary character was early dis- played. As a child, he was never seen to weep, and appeared indifferent to pain. On an occasion of his receiving a severe fall from another boy, we are told that he neither "whined nor wept." When little more than five years of age, a son of the Earl of Mar, somewhat younger than himself, fell out with one of the royal pages * Spotswood, p. 410. 122 HENRY PRINCE OF WALES. and " did him wrong." The Prince instantly reproved his playfellow. " I love you," he said, " because you are ray lord's son and my cousin ; but if you be not better conditioned, I will love such an one better," naming the child whom the culprit had misused.* His tutor was Adam Newton, a good scholar and a strict disciplinarian, exactly the sort of person James was likely to select. Probably, Newton was not sparing in his chastisements. On one occasion, when the Prince was about to strike the ball, while playing at goff, a stander-by exclaimed, " Beware, Sir, that you do not hit Mr. Newton." The Prince desisted from the stroke, at the same time observing, with a smile, " If I had done so, I had but paid my debts." f Another story is related by Mr. D'Israeli, in the " Curiosities of Literature," descriptive of the relative position of the Prince and the tutor : we must allow him to tell it in his own agreeable manner. "Desirous of cherishing the generous spirit and playful humour of Henry, his tutor encouraged a freedom of jesting with him, which appears to have been carried at times to a degree of momentary irritability on the side of the tutor, by the keen humour of the boy. When Newton, playing at shuffle-board with the Prince, blamed him for changing so often, and, taking up a piece, threw it on the board and missed his aim, the Prince smilingly exclaimed, ' Well thrown, Master ; ' on which the tutor, a little vexed, said, ' He would not strive with a Prince at shuffle-board.' Henry answered, ' Yet you gownsmen should be best at such exercises which are not meet for men who are more stirring.' The tutor, a little irritated, said, ' I am meet for whipping of boys.' ' You vaunt, then,' retorted the Prince, * that which a plough- * Birch's Life of Prince Henry, p. 3S2. + Curiosities of Literature, vol. iv. HENRY PRINCE OP WALES. 123 man or cart-driver can do better than you.' ' I can do more,' said the tutor, ' for I can govern foolish children.' On which the Prince, who, in his respect for his tutor, did not care to carry the jest further, rose from table, and, in a low voice to those near him, said, ' He had needs be a wise man who could do that.' " * In order to stimulate him in his studies, the King one day hinted, that if he did not take more pains, his younger brother Charles would outstrip him in learning. Kewton some time afterwards reminding the Prince of his father's remark, Henry asked him if he really thought his brother would prove the superior scholar. The tutor answering, that he had considerable fears on the subject, " "Well, then," said the Prince, with ready wit, " I will make Charles archbishop of Canterbury." On the 2nd of July, 1603, when only nine years old, he was invested at a solemn feast of St. George, at "Windsor, with the Order of the Garter. His companions in this honour were the Duke of Lennox, and the Earls of Southampton, Mar, and Pembroke. Even at this early age, his " quick, witty answers, princely carriage, and reverend obeisance at the altar," are said to have been the admiration of the by-standers.f On the 4th of June, 1610, he was created Prince of "Wales, the King having previously knighted him, without which honour, it seems, he was incapable of sitting at dinner with the sovereign.* His military taste was early displayed. "When asked what musical instrument he most delighted in, his answer was, " a trumpet." The French Ambassador coming one day to take leave of him, inquired if he could deliver any message from him to the King his master ? " Tell him," * Curiosities of Literature, vol. iv. t Birch's Life, p. 32. J Sanderson, p. 363. 124 HENllY PRINCE OF WALES. said the young Prince, " the manner in which you see me employed : " he was amusing himself with practising with the pike.* As early as the year 1606, Henry the Fourth of France appears to have had an insight into, and to have regarded with anxiety, the extraordinary character of his young namesake. The French Ambassador, Antoine le Fevre de la Boderie, had directions to treat him with particular respect, a remarkable compliment to a boy of twelve years old. The Ambassador writes in a letter to France, " He is a Prince who promises very much, and whose friendship cannot but be one day of advantage." Henry had sent the Dauphin a present of some dogs ; the Am- bassador recommends in return, that the latter should send over "a suit of armour well gilt and enamelled, together with pistols and a sword of the same kind ; " and, he says, " if he add to these a couple of horses, one of which goes well, and the other a barb, it will be a singular favour done to the Prince." f Henry, young as he was, seems to have entertained a project of retrieving the national credit, by the recovery of Calais from the French. "When, in 1607, the Prince de Joinville returned to France, Henry sent over an engineer in his train, who had secret orders to examine all the fortifications of that town, and especially those of Itix-bane. He lost no opportunity of cultivating the acquaintance of the most celebrated officers in Europe, and especially those of Upper and Lower Germany. It was also his custom to walk considerable distances on foot, in order that he might inure himself to long and harassing marches.^ In naval affairs he took almost an equal interest: it * Coke's Detection, vol. i., p. 61. + Birch, p. 70. Z Ibid., p. 86, 385, 386. HENRY PRINCE OF WALES. 125 appears, indeed, to have been principally at his insti- gation, that, in the year 1612, two ships, the Resolu- tion and Discovery, were sent out, with a view to the discovery of a North-west passage to China: the ex- pedition, however, was not the first of its kind. This taste of the Prince enables us to relate an instance of his strong sense of justice and powers of appreciating talent. His love of the sea had made him acquainted with the famous Phineas Pett, so celebrated for his genius in naval architecture. Pett was at one time on the point of being crushed by the envy and rival interests of other competitors in his line. These persons so far attained their object as to bring Pett to an examination, at which the King presided in person, when charges were pre- ferred against him of professional incompetency, and of having made use of inferior materials in the construction of his ships. During this investigation, (of which Pett has himself given an account, which will be found in the Arch apologia,) he was compelled to remain the whole time on his knees, and, in this dispiriting posture, to combat the frivolous charges which were brought against him. " I was, at length," he says, " almost disheartened and out of breath, but the Prince's Highness, standing near me, from time to time encouraged me as far as he might without ofience to his father, labouring to have me eased by standing up, but the King would not permit it." "When the King, at length, decided in Pett's favour, Henry cried out enthusiastically, " Where are those perjured fellows that dare abuse the King's Majesty with their false accusations ? Do not they worthily deserve hanging ? " James, alluding to the nature of one of the charges, wittily observed, " that the cross-grain appeared to be in the men and not in the timber." Pett shortly after this was employed to build a ship of war, which ]26 HENRY PRINCE OP WALES. was called " The Prince " after Henry. The Prince, to show his regard for Pett, and his respect for his talents, carried his fascinating sister, afterwards the Queen of Bohemia, to visit the ingenious shipwright at his humble residence ; an honour which appears completely to have gained the hearts of the worthy Pett and his wife. Henry's amusements were generally of a martial cha- racter, but his great delight was in tennis. The pursuits of the English Marcellus are thus described by Mons. de Boderie, in a letter to France dated 31st October, 1606, " He is a particular lover of horses, and what belongs to them, but is not fond of hunting ; and when he goes to it, it is rather for the pleasure of galloping, than that which the dogs give him. He plays willingly enough at tennis, and at another Scot's diversion very like mall ; but this always with persons older than himself, as if he despised those of his own age. He studies two hours a day, and employs the rest of his time in tossing the pike or leap- ing, or shooting with the bow, or throwing the bar, or vaulting, or some other exercise of that kind, and he is never idle. |He shows himself likewise very good-natured to his dependants, and supports their interests against any persons whatever, and pushes what he undertakes for them or others with such zeal as gives success to it. For, besides his exerting his whole strength to compass what he desires, he is already feared by those who have the management of affairs, and especially the Earl of Salisbury, who appears to be greatly apprehensive of the Prince's ascendant ; as the Prince, on the other hand, shows little esteem for his lordship." * Henry excelled in dancing, but seldom practised it unless strongly pressed. His tact was remarkable even when very young. A certain patriotic "Welshman, asserting in the King's * Birch, p. 75. HENRY PRINCE OP WALES. 127 presence that he could produce 40,000 men in the prin- cipality, who were ready to sacrifice their lives for the Prince against any King in Christendom, James with some jealousy inquired, " To do what ? " Henry instantly averted the alarm by answering playfully, " To cut off the heads of 40,000 leeks." * The instances of his wit are not few. A musician having delighted the company with some music which he had composed at the moment, was requested to play it over again. "I could not," said the performer, " for the kingdom of Spain ; for this were harder than for a preacher to repeat word by word a sermon that he had not learned by rote." A clergyman standing by, expressed his opinion that this need not be impossible. " Perhaps not," replied Henry, "for a bishopric." f "When a mere child, he happened to be entertained in a nobleman's house in the country, in which parsimony and bad fare were the order of the day. His attendants were loud in their complaints, of which the Prince took no notice at the time. The lady of the mansion, however, happening the next morning to pay him a visit of respect, discovered him amusing himself with a volume containing prints, to one of which he was paying particular attention. It was descriptive of a company seated at a banquet : " Madam," said the young Prince, " I invite you to a feast." " To what feast ? " she inquired. " To this feast," replied Henry. " "What," said the lady, " would your Highness only invite me to a painted feast ? " " No better, Madam," said the Prince, looking significantly into her face, " is to be found in this house.";}: He had the greatest esteem for Sir "Walter Raleigh j and once observed, alluding to the latter's long imprison- * Curiosities of Literature, vol. iv. t Ibid., vol. T. Ibid., vol. iv. 128 HENRY PRINCE OP WALES. ment in the Tower, that " no King but his father would keep such a bird in such a cage." * He had a fine taste for the arts, and made a magnificent collection of books, medals, statues, coins, &c. ; Evelyn says his cabinet was superior to any at home, and to the generality abroad : it was lost to the royal family in the civil wars. He knew how to distinguish genius, and courted the society of the learned. Archbishop Williams, shortly after taking orders, happened to preach before the jjpurt at Boyston. " He acquitted himself so well," says Ambrose Philips, " that his Majesty was pleased to speak much in his commendation ; and the Prince, not content to let him go off with hungry praise, looking upon him as an honour to Wales, assured him that he would not be unmindful of his great merits. But he dying untimely, the father bestowed that preferment on him which the son intended." f Henry held his court at St. James's Palace, which was set apart for his residence. Here he frequently enter- tained the young and the brilliant of both sexes, and kept about his person a number of young gentlemen whose spirit and tastes assimilated with his own.;}; A great proof of his popularity is the manner in which his court was attended. Possessing but little or no political influence, and having but few opportunities of rewarding his friends, his court was nevertheless far more frequented than that of the King himself. So jealous was James of this circumstance, that he once made use of the remark- able words, " "Will he bury me alive ? " Though pleasure was uot excluded, his establishment was governed with * Coke's Detection, vol. i., p. 61. *h Life of Lord Keeper Williams, p. 34. J Arthur Wilson, p. 52 ; Birch, p. 385. Coke's Detection, vol. i., p. 61. HENRY PRINCE OF WALES. 129 discretion, modesty, and sobriety, and with an especial reverence for religious duties. It may here be observed that, in 1610, his household amounted to four hundred and twenty-six persons, of whom two hundred and ninety- seven were in the receipt of regular salaries. "We are informed by his faithful follower, Sir Charles Cornwallis, that though the most beautiful women of the court and city were invited to his entertainments, yet that he could never discover the slightest inclination on the Prince's part to any particular beauty. He admits, however, the existence of reports that the Prince's heart had not been always unsusceptible. There seems reason indeed to believe that Henry was the unsuccessful rival of Somerset, for the affections of the lovely and profligate Lady Essex. It is stated in the Aulicus Coquinaria? as a "notorious truth," that he made love to the Countess of Essex, " before any other lady living.' ' Arthur Wilson tells us that, thinking to please the Prince, one of the courtiers presented him with Lady Essex's glove, which she had accidentally picked up. The Prince instantly rejected it, observing disdainfully that he " scorned it, since it had been stretched by another." Certainly the young Prince bore Somerset anything but good will. On one occasion * he is said to have either struck, or offered to strike, him with his racket. Essex, however, had been the playfellow of Henry, which might in some degree account for the Prince's enmity towards a man who had so deeply injured his friend by winning the affections of his wife. Still there is a doubt hanging over the Prince's purity in this affair : Sir Symonds D'Ewes states, that the Earl of Northamp- ton, Lady Essex's uncle, incited her to win the Prince's affections, and that he was the first upon whom she bestowed her favours. * Osborne, in Secret History of James. I., vol. i., p. 266. VOL. i. K 130 HENRY PRINCE OF WALES. There was an intention to marry Prince Henry to the Infanta Major, or eldest daughter of the King of Spain. Sir Charles (afterwards Lord) Cornwallis was sent to Madrid to negotiate on the subject ; but he met with so little encouragement that the project fell to the ground. His MS. account of the treaty, related in a letter to Lord Digby, is preserved in the Harleian collection. The match appears to have been far from agreeable to the Prince, who had the greatest repugnance to allying him- self with a Roman Catholic. The Prince's affection, indeed, for the Church of Eng- land, was only equalled by his aversion to the Church of Borne ; a fact the more remarkable, since his mother had early sought to tamper with his religious principles, and used every means to reconcile him to the Romish persua- sion.* Bishop Burnet says, he was so zealous a Protes- tant, that, after the failure of the Spanish match, when James was desirous of marrying him to a Popish princess, (either the archduchess, or a daughter of Savoy,) he wrote a letter to the King, praying him, if it was intended thus to dispose of him, that he might be married to the youngest princess of the two, for he should then have more hopes of her conversion : he requested also that whatever freedom might be allowed her in the exercise of her faith, it should be conducted in the most private manner possible. The original of this letter was shown to the Bishop by Sir "William Cook, and was dated less than a month previous to the death of the Prince. His affection for Protestantism was regarded as of such im- portance, that the Puritans looked upon him as their future saviour, and even discovered his prototype in the Apocalypse; a construction, from whence they argued that he was to become the avenger of Protestantism, and * Bircli, p. 45. HENRY PEIXCE OF WALES. 131 tbe destroyer of the Romish Church.* According to Harrington, the following indifferent distich was ex- tremely popular at the time Henry the Eighth pulled down the abbeys and cells ; But Henry the Ninth shall pull down bishops and bella.t So deep a feeling of religion in one so young, and so attached to the stirring interests of life, is indeed remark- able. He was strict in his attendance at Divine worship, and was accustomed to retire three times a day to his private devotions. J Sir Charles Cornwallis says, that had the Prince lived, it was his intention to select one of the most learned and experienced of his chaplains, whose advice he proposed to follow in all matters of conscience. He had the greatest horror of an oath. Osborne says, he never swore himself, nor retained those about him who did. At each of his residences, St. James's, Richmond, and Nonsuch, a box was kept, in which were deposited the fines collected from those members of his household who were heard to swear ; the proceeds of which were distributed among the poor. Coke informs us, that his father used to relate several stories respecting the young Prince. He was once out hunting, when the stag, harassed by the chase, happened to cross a road \vhile a butcher and his dog were passing. The dog killed the stag, but the carcass was too heavy for the butcher to carry off, as he wished to do. The huntsmen coming up endeavoured to incense the Prince against the man. Henry, however, merely observed that it was not the butcher's fault, but the dog's. " If your father had been here," they said, " he would have sworn so, that no mau * Osborne, in Secret History of James I., vol. i. 364. f Nogae Antique, voL ii., p. 3. Birch, pp. 85, 320. Birch, p. 85. K 2 132 HENRY PRINCE OF WALES. coidd have endured it." " Away," retorted Henry, " all the pleasure in the world is not worth an oath." He hated flattery and dissimulation, vanity and ostentation, and regarded with contempt the ephemeral sycophants of his father's court. He was extremely temperate and abstemious, except in the "article of fruit," in which, according to Birch, he liked to indulge. His temper is stated hy his biographers to have been almost always mild and even. It appears, however, to have been more than once ruffled in the excitement of his favourite game of tennis. An instance of the Prince falling out with Somerset at this pastime has already been alluded to : Codrington, in his life of Robert Earl of Essex, the Prince's early com- panion, mentions another occasion of his warmth of temper, under similar circumstances. Henry and the young Earl were amusing themselves in the tennis-court, when a dispute took place on some point in the game : Essex persisting on his rights, the Prince at last grew so angry as to call the Earl the son of a traitor, alluding to the catastrophe of his father, the spoilt victim of Elizabeth. Essex, growing furious in his turn, struck the Prince on the head with his racket so severely as to draw blood. The King sent for the Earl ; but, on being acquainted with the real circumstances of the affair, dismissed him unpunished. James told the Prince, that the boy who had just struck him would not hereafter be remiss in striking his enemies. Essex afterwards grew to be the famous Parliamentary general. The Prince's rapid progress in his studies, his military genius, and extreme popularity with all ranks of people, excited a painful feeling of jealousy in the mind of his father.* So deep, indeed, was the prejudice, that it * Wilson, p. 52 ; Birch, p. 75. HENRY PRINCE OF WALES. 133 appears to have destroyed all natural affection for his offspring. Burnet says, the Prince was rather feared than loved by his father. Once, on the downs at New- market, when James and his son had bidden one another farewell, in order to retire to their respective homes, it was remarkable that all the principal persons followed the Prince, leaving the King almost entirely to be escorted by servants. Archie, the court fool, with an ill- timed joke, pointed out the circumstance to his master ; at which the King is said to have been so much affected as to shed tears. Archie, however, for his officiousness, was, for some time afterwards, tossed in a blanket wherever he could be met with: by which party the punishment was inflicted does not appear, but in all pro- bability by the Prince's. The King, observes Osborne, was much annoyed to find that all the worth which he had imagined to belong to himself, was wholly lost in the hopes which the people entertained of his son. The Prince's person is minutely described by Sir Charles Cornwallis : " He was of a comely, tall, middle stature, about five feet and eight inches high, of a strong, straight, well-made body, with somewhat broad shoulders, and a small waist, of an amiable majestic countenance, his hair of an auburn colour, long faced, and broad fore- head, a piercing grave eye, a most gracious smile, with a terrible frown." His face was supposed to bear a resem- blance to that of Henry the Fifth. Ben Jonson took advantage of the flattering compliment which this circum- stance enabled him to pay to the Prince, on the occasion of a pageant presented before the King on his progress through London in 1603. The prophet Merlin, after recounting the heroic deeds of his kingly ancestors, thus alludes to the Prince's resemblance to the hero of Agincourt : 134 HENRY PRINCE OF WALES. Yet rests the other thunderbolt of war, Harry the Fifth, to whom in face you are So like, as Fate would have you so in worth. Prince Henry's career was destined to be as brief as it was brilliant. He died on the 6th of November, 1612, after a long illness, which he bore with exemplary piety and resignation. He had frequently expressed his indif- ference about death, and regarded length of days as an unenviable boon : " It was to small purpose," he said, " for a brave gallant man, when the prime of his days were over, to live till he were full of diseases." * In the Aulicus Coquinariae, there is an interesting account of the progress of his last illness : " In the nineteenth year of his age, appeared the first symptoms of change, from a full round face and pleasant disposition, to be paler and sharper, more sad and retired; often com- plaining of a giddy heaviness in his forehead, which was somewhat eased by bleeding at the nose ; and that suddenly stopping, was the first of his distemper, and brought him to extraordinary qualms, which his phy- sicians recovered with strong waters. " About this time, several ambassadors extraordinary being despatched home, he retired to bis house at Rich- mond, pleasantly seated by the Thames river, which invited him to learn to swim in the evenings after a full supper, the first immediate pernicious cause of stopping that gentle flux of blood, which thereby putrefying, might engender that fatal fever that accompanied him to his grave. His active body used violent exercises ; for at this time, being to meet the King at Bever in Notting- hamshire, he rode it in two days, near a hundred miles, in the extremity of heat in summer; for he set out * Birch, p. 387. HENRY PRINCE OF WALES. 135 early, acd came to Sir Oliver Cromwell's, near Hunting- don, by ten o'clock before noon, near sixty miles, and the next day betimes to Bever, forty milea." " There, and at other places, in all that progress, he accustomed himself to feasting, hunting, and other sports of balloon and tennis, with too much violence. " And now returned to Richmond in the fall of the leaf, he complained afresh of his pain in the head, with increase of a meagre complexion, inclining to feverish ; and then for the rareness thereof called the new disease ; which increasing, the lOfch of October he took his chamber, and took counsel with his physician, Doctor Hammond, an honest and worthy learned man. Then removes to London to St. James's, contrary to all advice ; and (with a spirit above indisposition) gives leave to his physician to go to his own home. " And so allows himself too much liberty, in accom- panying the Palsgrave, and Count Henry of Nassau (who was come hither upon fame to see him), in a great match at tennis in his shirt, that winter season, his looks then presaging sickness. And on Sunday the 25th of Oc- tober, he heard a sermon, the text in Job, ' Man that is born of a woman, is of short continuance, and is full of trouble.' After that he presently went to Whitehall, and heard another sermon before the King, and after dinner, being ill, craves leave to retire to his own court, where instantly he fell into sudden sickness, faintings, and after that a shaking, with great heat and headach, that left him not whilst he had life." The Archbishop of Canterbury, and Doctor Melborn, Dean of Rochester, constantly attended at his bedside, and prayed with him during his illness. Cornwallis says, that " he bore his sickness with patience, and as often recognition of his faith, his hopes, and his appeals to 136 HENRY PRINCE OF WALES. God's mercy, as his infirmity, which afflicted him alto- gether in his head, would possibly permit." He died at St. James's at the age of eighteen years, eight months, and seventeen days. His body, having been embalmed, was interred in "Westminster Abbey. His death had been foretold by Bruce, an eminent astrologer of the period, who, however, at the insti- gation of the Earl of Salisbury, was banished for his discrimination. Before quitting England, the astrologer sent to Salisbury, assuring him that his words would prove but too true, though the Earl himself would not live to see it. His prediction turned out correct. The Prince died in November, six months after Salisbury's dissolution.* To falsify this story, it has been argued that Bruce retired voluntarily abroad ; and also (sup- posing the prediction to have been really made), that it required no great prophetical powers to calculate that the Earl's shattered frame would in all probability yield to the Prince's youth, and, apparently, vigorous constitution.f The untimely deaths of promising young princes are fre- quently attributed to unfair means, and Prince Henry's, among the number, is said to have been occasioned by poison. Certainly the suspicion was more than whispered at the time. One of his chaplains actually preached a sermon at St. James's (which was afterwards printed), wherein he alluded so openly and feelingly to the manner in which the young Prince was cut off, as to melt his congregation into tears, and to procure his own dismissal from court. J Arthur Wilson says, there were strange rumours at the time, some attributing the Prince's decease to poisoned grapes, and others to a pair of gloves * Weldon, p. 78. t Anlicns Coqnin., in Seer. Hist, of James I., vol. ii., p. 252. J Kennett's Complete History, vol. ii., p. 689, note. HENRY PRINCE OF WALES. 137 which had been similarly tampered with.* "When Henry was dying, Sir Walter Ealeigh sent him a cordial from the Tower, which he said would infallibly cure him unless his malady were the effect of poison. The Prince took the cordial, but not recovering, the Queen is said to have laid so much stress on Sir "Walter's proviso, as to have believed to the last that her son had met with foul play.f It has been suspected that John Holies, Earl of Clare, Comptroller of the Prince's household, was the depository of some important secret, relative to the death of his young master. His sudden emancipation from a prison to a peerage appears to have given rise to this notion, besides the undue importance which was attached to some lines written in the Earl's pocket-book, beginning : AcUeon once Diana naked spied All vina wares, yet by his dogs he died.J Supposing, however, that the arguments in favour of Henry's having been poisoned are at all tenable, the indi- vidual on whom we should naturally be inclined to fix the guilt is undoubtedly Bobert Carr, Earl of Somerset, after- wards a convicted murderer in the case of Overbury, a man openly held in contempt and dislike by the Prince, and whose utter ruin was sure to follow, in the event of Henry's succession to the throne : besides these circum- stances there existed their presumed rivalship for the affections of Lady Essex. Burnet says : " Colonel Titus assured me that he had from King Charles the First's own mouth, that he was well assured Prince Henry was poisoned by the Earl of Somerset's means." Lord Chief Justice Coke hinted openly in court, that Overbury was made away with to prevent a discovery of Somerset's * Wilson, p. 63. See Coke's Detection, voL L, p. 61. t Birch, p. 357. Walpole's Works, voL i., p. 667. 138 HENRY PRINCE OF WALES. share in the Prince's death ; an imprudence which lost Coke the King's favour, and eventually his place.* "Wilson and other writers also allude to the dark suspicions which were entertained of Somerset's guilt. There has existed another horrible surmise, that the son's life was cut short by the jealousy of the father. Hume says: "The bold and criminal malignity of men's tongues and pens spared not even the King on the occasion." Arthur Wilson openly hints his suspicions, though, with affected and ingenious delicacy, he talks of them as a subject for his fears, and not for his pen. Eapin very properly remarks, in noticing this unnatural aspersion, that the proofs should be "as clear as the sun," before they are accepted as evidence. It may be observed, that in the letters of Isaac Casaubon, who was at this time in England, although there are several touching allusions to the Prince's untimely death, as well as to his rare virtues and accom- plishments, yet there is not even the slightest allusion to the dark surmises which were whispered at the period.f With reference to the general question as to the manner of the Prince's death, it is right to add, that the physicians who attended him during his illness, and who examined his body after his decease, gave it as their unanimous opinion that he was not poisoned ; and Sir Charles Cornwallis expresses his opinion that the rumours to a contrary effect were without foundation. Bishop * Kennett, vol. ii., p. 689, note. Lord Dartmouth, in a note on the anecdote of Bishop Burnet above quoted, makes the following remark : "If he was poisoned by the Earl of Somerset, it was not upon the account of religion, but for making love to the Countess of Essex ; and that was what the Lord Chief Justice meant, when he said at Somerset's trial, ' God knows what went with the good Prince Henry, but I have heard something.'" Burnet, vol. i., p. 19. t See the Gentleman's Magazine, vol. xiii., p. 120, New Series. HENRY PRINCE OF WALES. 139 Goodman, in his Memoirs, has an interesting passage on the subject: "That Prince Henry," he says, "died not without vehement suspicion of poison, this I can say in my own knowledge. The King's custom was to make an end of his hunting at his house in Havering, in Essex, either at the beginning or in the middle of September. Prince Henry did then accompany him. I was beneficed in the next parish, at Stapleford Abbots. Many of our brethren, the neighbour ministers, came to hear the sermon before the King, and some of us did say, looking upon Prince Henry, and finding that his countenance was not so cheerful as it was wont to be, but had heavy darkish looks, with a kind of mixture of melancholy and choler, some of us did then say, that certainly he had some great distemper in his body, which we thought might proceed from eating of raw fruit, peaches, musk- melons, &c. A while after we heard that he was sick, his physicians about him, none of his servants forbidden to come to him ; he spake to them when he knew he was past hopes of life ; he had no suspicion himself of poison ; he blamed no man ; he made a comfortable end, and when he was opened, as I heard, there were found in his stomach some remnants of grapes which were not digested. The chirurgeons and physicians found no sign or likeli- hood of poison." The physicians, in support of their opinion, drew up on paper the result of their post-mortem examination, in which they minutely described the appear- ance of the Prince's body. It has, however, justly been remarked, that though this medical detail gives no reason to believe that poison was administered, yet it affords no direct proof to the contrary.* What probably threw so painful a suspicion upon the King, was the command he gave, that the Christmas * Ecliard, vol. i., p. 993 ; Kapin, vol. ii., p. 181, note. 140 HENRY PRINCE OF WALES. festivities should proceed as usual : moreover, he issued an indecent order that no mourning should be worn for his deceased son.* It has been attempted to disprove this fact, by asserting that, at the marriage of the Prin- cess Elizabeth, which shortly followed, both the King and his daughter were dressed in black.f "We do not know what may have been the King's costume on the occasion, but Sir James Finett, a nice observer, and master of the ceremonies to the court, distinctly says, that the Princess was " apparelled in white," and, more- over, alludes to the splendid jewels that were worn by the King himself.J A similar order had been issued by James at the demise of Queen Elizabeth. Sully, the French Ambassador to England, informs us that, after having been at the expense of providing mourning habits for his suite, he was compelled to change their apparel, in order that he might not mortally offend James, and yet his mission was principally that of condolence. "We may conclude the memoirs of this extraordinary young Prince with the character drawn of him by his treasurer, and affectionate follower, Sir Charles Corn- wallis : " He was courteous, loving, and affable, his favour, like the sun, indifferently seeming to shine upon all; naturally shame-faced and modest, most patient, which he showed both in life and death. Quick he was to conceive anything; not rash, but mature in delibe- tion, and constant having resolved. True of his pro- * Wilson, p. 63. 1* See Granger's Biog. Hist., vol. ii., p. 12. Wilson (p. 64) informs us also that her bridal apparel was of white. Since writing the above I have discovered that at the ceremony of the Princess being affianced to the Palatine, they were both clothed in black. Ellis' s Orig. Letters, vol. iii., p. 110. Perhaps we may argue from this circumstance that the King's order did not extend to his own family. I Finetti Philoxenis, pp. 10, 11. HENRY PEINCE OF WALES. 141 mise, most secret even from his youth, so that he might have been trusted in anything that did not force a discovery, being of a close disposition, not too easy to be known, or pried into ; of a fearless, noble, heroic, and undaunted courage, thinking nothing impossible that ever vras done by any. He was ardent in his love to religion. He made conscience of an oath, and was never heard to take God's name in vain. He hated Popery, though he was not unkind to the persons of Papists. He lived and died mightily, striving to do somewhat of everything, and to excel in the most excellent. He greatly delighted in all rare inventions and arts, and in all kinds of engines belonging to the wars, both by sea and land. In the bravery and number of great horses ; in shooting and levelling of great pieces of ordnance ; in the ordering and marshalling of arms; in building and gardening, and in all sorts of rare music, chiefly the trumpet and drum ; in limning and painting, carving, and in all sorts of excellent and rare pictures which he had brought unto him from all countries."* A contemporary versifier f thus celebrates the loss of Prince Henry : Lo, where he shineth yonder A fixed star in Heaven, Whose motion here came under None of the Planets seven. If that the Moon should tender The Sun her love, and marry, They both could not engender So sweet a star as Harry. It has been argued, from the Prince's martial tastes and ardour for military fame, that ' to whatever height he * Harl. Misc., vol. iii., p. 519. + Hugh Hollande, of Trinity College, Cambridge. The verses, sudi as they are, are preserved among the Lansdowne MSS. 142 HENRY PRINCE OF WALES. might have raised the glory of his country, it was unlikely he would have added to its happiness. Surely, however, there was an innate rectitude of purpose, by which, in after years, the irregularities of the head would have been made subservient to the qualities of the heart. ELQ Z ABETM-, QUEEN OF BOHEMIA, DAUGHTER OF K. JAMES THE FIRST. OB. 1662, 113 ELIZABETH QUEEN OF BOHEMIA. Character of this Princess Attachment between her and her Brother, Prince Henry Juvenile Letters to King James Marriage of the Princess to Frederick, Count Palatine of the Rhine Magnificent Presents from the Palatine Splendour and Costliness of the Marriage Ceremony Appearance of the Bride Departure from England of the Royal Couple Letter to the Lord Mayor from Elizabeth Her Misfortunes, and Conduct under them Enthu- siasm excited in England by her Distress Verses addressed to her by Sir Henry Wotton Poetry by Elizabeth Death of her Husband The Earl of Craven's Affection for Elizabeth Her Return to her Native Country soon after the Restoration Letter from Elizabeth to Lord Finch Her Death, and Legacy to Lord Craven Biographical Sketch of that Nobleman, the presumed Husband of Elizabeth. THE Queen of Bohemia appears to have merited all the encomium, the admiration, and the romantic interest, with which her contemporaries regarded her. Few women, indeed, have been gifted in a greater degree with all that is considered most lovely in the female character. Lively in her manners, affectionate in her disposition, and beautiful in her person ; throwing a charm and a refinement over the social intercourse of life ; she pos- sessed, with all these qualities, a strength of mind which never became masculine, talents which were never obtrusive, and a warmth of heart which remained with her to the end. Forced from the lap of luxury and the splendours of a court, to become a wanderer, and almost a beggar, on the earth, though bowed down by the blasts of misfortune, she bent meekly and submissively to the 144 ELIZABETH QUEEN OF BOHEMIA. storm. In prosperity modest and unassuming ; in adver- sity surmounting difficulties and dignifying poverty ; her character was regarded with enthusiasm in her own time, and has won for her the admiration of posterity. Elizabeth, the only surviving daughter of James the First and his Queen, was born at the Palace of Falkland, in Scotland, on the 19th of August, 1596.* Till her seventh year the young Princess had been successively under the care of Lord Livingstone and the Countess of Kildare. In 1603 she was transferred to the charge of John the first Lord Harrington, and his lady, two of the most amiable and respectable characters at the court of James. With the incidents of her childhood we are little acquainted; there seems, however, to have existed the strongest attachment between her and her amiable brother Prince Henry ; and, indeed, their tastes and characters were not very dissimilar. When removed from his society to be placed under Lord Harrington's roof, the little Princess sent to her brother the following brief but eloquent epistle : MY DEAR AND WORTHY BROTHER, I most kindly salute you, desiring to hear of your health ; from whom, though I am now far away, none shall ever be nearer in affection than your most loving sister, ELIZABETH.! * The 19th of the month was the day on which occurred many of the most important incidents in the life of James. He himself was born on the 19th of June : on the 19th of November he had first embraced his queen on the rugged shores of Norway ; his first-born, Prince Henry, was born on the 19th of February ; his second, Charles, on the 19th of November ; and his daughter, Elizabeth, on the 19th of August. We are indebted to the King himself for pointing out these somewhat striking coincidences. t Benger's Life of the Queen of Bohemia, vol. L, p. 67. ELIZABETH QUEEN OF BOHEMIA. 145 There is extant another charming letter, addressed bv the young Princess to her brother, which we are also tempted to insert. 'WOETHT PEI^CE AND MY DEAREST BnOTHEE, I received your most welcome letter and kind token l)y Mr. Hopkins, highly esteeming them as delightful memorials of your brotherly love. In which, assuredly (whatsoever else may fail), I will ever endeavour to equal you, esteeming that time happiest when I enjoy your company, and desiring nothing more than the fruition of it again ; that as nature hath made us nearest in our love together, so accident might not separate us from living together. Neither do I account it the least part of my present comfort, that though I am deprived of your happy presence, yet I can make these lines deliver this true message, that I will ever be during my life your most kind and loving sister, ELIZABETH.* To iny most dear brother the Prince. Among the original letters to King James from his family, preserved in the Advocates' Library in Edinburgh, are several in French, Italian, and English from the Princess to her father. James seems to have taken a considerable pleasure in receiving these juvenile compo- sitions from his children ; and it was probably owing to her knowledge of this taste that we find several letters from the Princess's own children, after she had become Queen of Bohemia, preserved in this collection, and affectionately addressed to their royal grandsire. One childish epistle from her son, Frederick Henry, is amusing enough to record : * Ellis, Orig. Letters, vol. iii., p. 90. VOL. I. 146 ELIZABETH QUEEN OF BOHEMIA. s r , I kiss your hand. I would fain see yo r Ma tie . I can say nominativus hie, liaec, hoc, and all five declensions, and a part of pronomen, and a part of verbum. I have two horses alive, that can go up my stairs, a black horse and a chesnut. I pray God to bless your Ma Ue . To r Ma ties obedient grand-child, FBEDEBICK HENBY.* To the King. On the 16th October, 1612, arrived in England, for the purpose of seeking the Princess in marriage, Fre- derick the Fifth, Count Palatine of the Ehine, Duke of Bavaria and Silesia, and Elector, cup-bearer, and High- steward of the Empire ; a man of handsome, though melancholy countenance, and weak, good-natured, and penurious in his character ; as unworthy of such a wife as James was of such a daughter. Queen Anne, probably on account of the Palatine's being a Protestant, was extremely averse to the match ,t and endeavoured by ridiculing him and his pretensions, to laugh her daughter out of the partiality she had con- ceived. Coke says, " she used contemptuously to style the Princess ' Goodwife Palsgrave.' ' I would rather,' retorted the Princess, ' be the Palsgrave's wife, than the greatest Papist Queen in Christendom.' "J Frederick was affianced to his future bride, on the 27th of December, 1612, in the banqueting-house at Whitehall, and in the presence of the King, seated in state, and of the assembled court. The Palsgrave was first led in, attended by Prince Charles and several of the nobility, and clad in a black velvet cloak adorned with * Letters to King James YI. from his Family. Edinburgh, 1835. t "Winwood, Memorials, vol. iii., p. 421. J Coke, vol. i., p. 64. ELIZABETH QUEEN OP BOHEMIA. 147 gold lace. Then followed the Princess, in a black velvet gown, " seme of crosslets, or quaterfoiles, silver ; and a small white feather in her head, attended with ladies." Shortly after entered the King, who being seated under the canopy of state, the Palsgrave and the Princess stepped forward, and stood together on a rich Turkey carpet which had been prepared for the purpose. Sir Thomas Lake then read formally in French, from the book of common prayer, " I, Frederick, take thee Eliza- beth to my wedded wife," &c. : which was repeated verbatim by the Palsgrave. The same form having been gone through by the Princess, the Archbishop of Canter- bury pronounced the benediction: "The God of Abra- ham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, bless these espousals, and thy servants," &c.* It is a remarkable circumstance that this marriage was asked by the publica- tion of banns in the Chapel Eoyal.f The Palsgrave, at this period, appears to have distin- guished himself by a liberality for which he was after- wards far from being celebrated. Mr. Chamberlain writes to Sir Ealph Win wood, 9th January, 1613 : "The Prince Palatine (for so he is now styled, and since this contract is usually prayed for in the Church among the King's children) was very royal in his presents this new- year's-tide, giving to the Lord and Lady Harrington in golden and gilt plate to the value of 20001. ; to their servants, 4001. ; to all the women about the Lady Eliza- beth, 100Z. a-piece, and a medalia with his picture ; to her waiters as much, and to her chief gentleman-usher a chain of 150Z. ; to Mrs. Dudley a chain of pearls and diamonds of 5001. ; to the Prince a rapier and pair of spurs set with diamonds ; to the King a bottle of one * HarL MSS. 5176, in Ellis's Orig. Letters, vol. iii., p. 110. f 1 "Win-wood's Memorials, vol. iii. p. 431. L 2 14:3 ELIZABETH QUEEN OF BOHEMIA. entire agate, containing two quarts, esteemed a very rare and rich jewel ; to the Queen a very fair cup of agate and a jewel ; and lastly, to his mistress, a rich chain of diamonds, two very rich pendant diamonds for her ears ; and above all, two pearls, for bigness, fashion and beauty, esteemed the fairest that are to be found in Christendom; insomuch that the jewels bestowed only on her are valued by men of skill above 35,0001. He was purposed to show the like bounty to the King and Queen's servants and officers, but the King directly forbad it. The Queen is noted to have given no great grace nor favour to this match ; and there is doubt will do less hereafter, for that upon these things Schomberg (that is chief about him) is said to have given out that his master is a better man than the King of Denmark ; and that he is to take place of him in the empire, at leastwise of a greater king than he, the King of Bohemia. The marriage is set down for Shrove-Sunday, against which time, it is said, the lords and ladies about the court have appointed a mask upon their own charge : but I hear there is order given for 1500/. to provide one upon the King's cost, and a 1000/. for fire- works."* The marriage ceremony, which was finally performed on the 14th of February, 1613, was conducted with great magnificence.! The heart of the good Sir John Finett, the master of the ceremonies, evidently warms, as he describes minutely the gorgeous dresses, and the "draughts of Ippocras out of a great golden bowl." " The bravery," he adds, " and riches of that day were * Winwood, vol. iii., p. 421. t It is saiJ in a letter of the time, "The Lady \Votton was reported to have a gown that cost fifty pound the yard the embroidering ; and the Lord Montague bestowed fifteen hundred pound in apparel upon his two daughters." Winwod'a Memorials, vol. iiL, p. 434. ELIZABETH QUEEN OF BOHEMIA. 149 incomparable; gold and silver laid upon lords', ladies', and gentlewomen's backs, was the poorest burthen: pearls and costly embroideries being the commonest wear. The King and Queen's and Prince's jewels only, were valued that day by his Majesty himself at nine hundred thousand pounds sterling." * The appearance of the bride has been minutely and fondly described by more than one writer of the period. She was arrayed in white, the emblem of innocence ; her long hair, as the ornament of virginity, falling in full length clown her back. On her head was a crown of pure gold, ornamented with pearls and diamonds ; and support- ing her train were twelve young ladies, also clothed in white, and so adorned with jewels, that we are told Tier * Finetti Philoxenis, p. 11. The marriage of his daughter must have cost the King nearly a hundred thousand pounds. The following are given by Rapin as the items : For the Palsgrave's diet at his standing house . . . 6000 For his diet at his instalment of the garter . . . . 4000 For diet at his marriage 2000 For lodging for his servants . . . . . . . 830 To the Wardrobe for apparel for the Princess Elizabeth . 6252 For furnishing her chamber ....... 3023 Apparel and necessaries for her to my Lord Harrington's . 1820 Jewels and apparels for her servants 3914 For divers merchants for silk, &c 995 The Lords' Mask at her marriage . . . . . . 400 For the naval work of fireworks on the Thames at her marriage 4SOO More fireworks on the Thames at her marriage . . . 28SO To Sir Ed ward Cecil as Treasurer, for her journey from hence to Heidelbergh, and for her purse 2000 For settling her jointure, and charges to some of the gentry to go thither, and to take the assurance . . . . 800 The charges of her journey ....... 8000 For her transport to Flushing 5555 Paid over to the Palsgrave's agent for her portion . . . 40,000 Total . . . 03,273 150 ELIZABETH QUEEN OP BOHEMIA. passage looked like a milky way. During her progress to the chapel royal, she was supported by two single mer>, her brother, Prince Charles, on the right, and the Earl of Northampton on the left. On her return, she was escorted by two married noblemen, the Duke of Lennox and the Earl of Nottingham. The marriage ceremony was performed by the Archbishop of Canterbury.* The Palsgrave and his bride took leave of the King and Queen at Rochester, in the middle of April, and, attended by several of the nobility of both sexes, arrived at Flushing on the 27th of that month, from whence they passed in considerable magnificence to Heidelberg. The Elector seems to have parted, not in the best hun.our, with his father-in-law. At the instigation of his uncle, the Duke de Bouillon, he had solicited the enlargement of Lord Grey from the Tower. The King, apparently far from pleased, declined complying with his request. He told him that when he came to Germany, the Elector might depend on his not interceding for any of his prisoners. The Palsgrave complained to the Archbishop of Canterbury, that, instead of treating him as his son- in-law, the King " used him rather like a youngling, or childish youth, not to be regarded."f James, it seems, was anxious that his son-in-law should receive an academical entertainment from the University ^ of Cambridge, and accordingly we find them surfeiting him for a considerable period with pedantry, yet not without respect. J As a further illustration of the amiable character of Elizabeth, it may not be uninteresting to insert the fol- lowing letter. It was addressed by her, on the eve of * Wilson, p. 64 ; Finetti Philoxenis, p. 10. f AYinwood's Memorials, vol. iii., p. 454. J Philips's Life of Lord Keeper ^Yilliarns, p. 34. ELIZABETH QUEEN OP BOHEMIA. 151 her quitting England, to the Lord Mayor, and shows how warmly she could interest herself in favour of an old retainer : MY LOBD, I have not been forward to wring you with requests. As this is the first, so is it likely to be the last, especially in this kind. That which I am to move you and your company for is this : I am given to understand that the cook belong- ing to your hall, being an old man, is not so well able as he hath been to do you service, but, by reason of his impo- tency, driven to commit the same to another : in regard whereof, for that I have known the bearer hereof, John "\Varde, to be sufficient for the operation of such a place, having had experience of his honesty and discreet con- sideration, doing me service in the house where I have lived since my coming into England, I am willing to com- mend him unto you, for the cook of your hall, to be accepted when that old man shall leave his place by death, or otherwise resign it. I presume my letter shall carry that respect with your lordship that to enlarge it with more inducements shall be needless. If I may hear before I leave this place, that John AYarde doth rest assured of your favours in this behalf, it shall settle an affection in me to continue your friend, ELIZABETH.* The manner in which the Palsgrave eventually plunged his subjects in war, and risked his patrimonial dominions^ for the sake of the mere empty title of King ; the circumstances under which his electoral title was trans- ferred to the Dukedom of Bavaria, and he himself became * Ellis' s Orig. Letters, vol. iii., p. 232. Second Series. 152 ELIZABETH QUEEN OF BOHEMIA. an expatriated -wanderer, and a pensioner upon England, are too minutely detailed in history to require repetition. These were circumstances, however, which served to exhibit in a stronger light the more brilliant qualities of Elizabeth's character. "When Count Thurm gallantly offered to prolong the defence of the citadel of Prague till she had reached a place of safety ; " Xever," was her reply, " shall there be more devastation than is necessary for my sake : sooner would I die where I am, than be remembered by a curse." Nothing could exceed the unrepining dignity with which she bore her misfortunes, and few have been more afflicted. Kirkton, in his History of the Church of Scotland, speaks of her existence as the " most unhappy of any woman in the world." She had been driven from her husband's kingdom, and from the splendours and comforts to which she had been born, into exile and positive want. ]STeal dwells on her "starving condition," and she is even spoken of as " reduced to the utmost beggary," and as " wandering frequently in disguise as a mere vagrant." * In one year she lost her father, who was also her benefactor, and her eldest son, Frederick; the latter by a miserable end. He was crossing Haerlem-Mere with his father, in the common passage boat, (the penurious Palsgrave having- selected that conveyance in order to save a small sum,} when the vessel, which was overladen with goods, unfortunately upset. The Palsgrave saved himself by swimming, but the young Prince, clinging to the mast, became entangled in the rigging, and the next morning was found half-drowned, half frozen to death.f With the vulgar-minded, to be poor is to be contemptible. At Antwerp, in the true spirit of vulgarity, the most * Hist, of the Puritans ; Curiosities of Literature, t Howell's Letters, p. 183. ELIZABETH QUEEN OF BOHEMIA. 153 illustrious woman of her time was depicted as an Irish beggar, a child hanging behind her back, and the King-, her father, carrying her cradle.* Still, however, there were those who were able to appreciate merit and to feel for misfortune. In the Low Countries she was so beloved as to be styled " the Queen, of Hearts." In England she was not forgotten. There was the strongest feeling in favour of this unfortunate Princess, and an ardent anxiety that James would take an active and decided part to procure the restitution of the Palatinate. The forlorn situation of a Princess of England was regarded as a national disgrace ; and mingling their anxiety for the Protestaut interests with their ardour in her cause, the people of England would have poured forth to a war with the empire as they would have gathered to a crusade. The following extract from a letter of the period will afford some idea of the enthu- siasm which was excited by her character and distress : " The lieutenant of the Middle Temple played a game this Christmas time, whereat his Majesty was highly displeased. He made choice of the civillest and best- fashioned gentlemen of the house to sup with him ; and being at supper, took a cup of wine in one hand, and held his sword drawn in the other, and so began a health to the distressed Lady Elizabeth, and having drunk, kissed the sword, and laying his hand upon it, took an oath to live and die in her service ; then delivered tho cup and sword to the next, and so the health and cere- mony went round." t One of Elizabeth's most ardent admirers was the Wilson, p. 192 ; Sir "W. Raleigh's Ghost in Phoenix Britannicus, p. 323. t Mr. Joseph Sleade to Sir Martin Stuteville. Harl. MS8. p. 389 ; Ellis' s Orig. Letters, vol. iii. p. 113. 154 ELIZABETH QUEEN OF BOHEMIA. famous Sir Henry "Wotton. The following exquisite verses are the more remarkable, as having been written by a man whose fame rested so little on his poetical talent: they are addressed "To his mistress, the Queen of Bohemia." You meaner beauties of the night, That poorly satisfy our eyes, More by your number than your light ; You common-people of the skies, What are you when the sun shall rise ? You curious chanters of the -wood, That warble forth Dame Nature's lays, Thinking your voices understood By your weak accents ; what's your praise When Philomel her voice shall raise ! You violets that first appear, By your pure purple mantles known, Like the proud virgins of the year, As if the spring were all your own, What are you when the rose is blown ? So, when my mistress shall be seen, Inform and beauty of her mind, By virtue first, then choice a queen ; Tell me if she were not design'd The eclipse and glory of her kind. * * Reliquiae Wottonianse, p. 379. There are other versions ot this beautiful trifle, but the discrepancies are not material. It may be remarked, however, that Dr. Wright, in the Parnassus Biceps, inserts two additional stanzas, as the first and concluding one, of which the merit is indifferent and the authenticity doubtful. The disputed stanzas are as follow : Ye glorious trifles of the East, Whose estimation fancies raise, Pearls, rubies, sapphires, and the rest Of precious gems ; what is your praise When as the diamond shows his ravs ? ELIZABETH QUEEX OF BOHEMIA. 155 Elizabeth -was herself a poetess, and is known to hare been the author of a copy of verses, which will be found both in the Nuga? Antiquae and in Park's noble authors. The sentiments are those of an amiable and a graceful mind, and though the versification is indifferent, the whole is at least equal as a composition to any of the poetical effusions of her pedantic father. The three concluding stanzas have the most merit, and may be taken as a specimen of her muse. ! my soul of heavenly birth, Do thou scorn this basest earth ; Place not here thy joy and mirth, \Vhere of bliss is greatest dearth. From below thy mind remove, And affect the things above ; Set thy heart and fix thy love "Where the truest joys shall prove. To me grace, Father, send, On thee wholly to depend, That all may to thy glory tend ; So let me live, so let me end. The Elector Palatine died of a fever, while in exile at Mentz, Koveinber 29th, 1632. From this period Elizabeth resided principally at the Hague, where she was eventually joined by the royal family of England, when the civil commotions had banished them from their country. Hor adviser and supporter during her widow- hood was William, the first Earl of Craven, who carefully watched over her affairs, and regarded her with an The rose, the violet, and the whole spring May to her breath for sweetness run ; The diamond's darkened in the ring, When she appears the moon's undone^ As at the brightness of the sun. See Walton's Lives : London, 1825, p. 472. note. 156 ELIZABETH QUEEN OF BOHEMIA. affection which almost amounted to enthusiasm. The world believed that they were married, and the suspicion appears to have been not unfounded. At all events, she could not have united herself to a kinder, a braver, or a better man. Shortly after the Restoration she accepted an invita- tion from her nephew, Charles the Second, and returned to her native country on the 17th of May, 1GG1. She first took up her residence in Lord Craven's house, Drury Lane, an interesting mansion only recently demolished,* whence she removed on the 8th of Februarv, 1662, to Leicester House, where she died only five days afterwards, February 13th, 1662, in the sixty-sixth year of her age. Elizabeth delighted in the society of learned men, among whom we are pleased to find Sir Henry AVotton her friend, and Francis Quarles her cup-bearer. Indeed, the gallant Provost of Eton is all enthusiasm when he speaks of her. He styles her, with no less poetry than justice, a " princess resplendent in the darkness of fortune." t The following letter to Lord Finch, which is for the first time printed, will afford some notion of Elizabeth's playful humour : MY LOED, I assure you your letter was very welcome to me, being glad to find you are still heart-whole, and that * It had formerly been called Drury House, having been the residence of the ancient family of the Druries, and was famous as the spot where the adherents of the ill-fated Essex plotted against Queen Elizabeth. The house was rebuilt by Lord Craven. Pennant tells us that in searching after it, he discovered a sign, the head of the Queen of Bohemia, "his admired mistress," which proved its identity. In Pennant's time it was an inn. It stood on the site of the present Olympic Theatre. t Reliq. Wott. p. 222. ELIZABETH QUEEX OF BOHEMIA. 157 you are in better health, if your cough is gone. As for your appetite, I confess your outlandish meats are not so good as beef and mutton. I pray you remember how ill pickled herring did use you here, and brought you one of your one hundred and fifty fevers. As for the Countess, I can tell you heavy news of her, for she is turned quaker, and preaches every day on a tub. Your nephew George can tell you of her quaking ; but her tub-preaching is come since he went. I believe at last she will become an Adamite. I did not hear you were dead ; wherefore I hope your promise not to die till you let me know it ; but you must also stay till I give you leave to die, which will not be till we meet a shooting somewhere, but where that is God knows best. I can tell little other news here ; my chief exercise being to jaunt betwixt this and Schievling, where my niece has been all this winter. I am now in mourning for my brother-in-law the Duke of Simmeren's death. My Lady Stanhope and her husband are going, six weeks hence, into France to the waters of Bourbon, which ia all I will say now, only that I am ever Tour most affectionate friend, ELIZABETH. Hague, March 4. I pray you remember me to your lady and to my Lord of "Wiuchelsea. To the Lord Finch.* Elizabeth bequeathed her pictures, her books, and her papers to Lord Craven, who had been ever faithful and ever kind. That she was married to that nobleman, though it has been generally credited, has never been actually proved. He was thirteen years her junior; Add. MSS. 4162 ; Art. 6, Brit Mas. 158 ELIZABETH QUEEN OF BOHEMIA. notwithstanding which disparity, the feeling which actuated his attentions appears to have been something deeper than friendship. After her decease he is said to have resided principally at Combe Abbey, from its having been the scene of his beloved mistress's childhood. It would be improper to dismiss our notice of the Queen of Bohemia, without a brief account of her pre- sumed husband, and faithful servant, Lord Craven. He was the son of Sir William Craven, Knight, Merchant Tailor, who served the office of Lord Mayor of London in 1611. Early in life he had achieved a reputation in arms under Gustavus Adolphus, and Henry Prince of Orange, which probably led, in 1627, to his being created Baron Craven. Having fought bravely, and suffered severely in the royal cause, at the Restoration he was raised by Charles II. to be Viscount and Earl of Craven. In 1670 he succeeded the first Duke of Albemarle as Colonel of the Coldstream Guards : he was also a member of the Privy Council to Charles II. and his brother James. To the last, his life was as useful to his fellow- creatures as his character was brave, generous, and open. He voluntarily remained in London during the time of the great plague, and built a lazaretto for the sick, on the site of the present Carnaby Street, Golden Square, which then consisted of open fields. " He braved," says Pennant, " the fury of the pestilence with the same coolness that he fought the battles of his beloved mistress, Elizabeth, or mounted the tremendous breach at Creutznach :" * and Dr. Gumble,t his contemporary, informs us, that he " freely chose to venture his life upon a thousand occa- sions in this afflicted time, in the midst of the infected ; provided nurses and physicians for them that were sick, * Pennant's Account of London, p. 122. t Life of Monk, by Thomas Gumble, D.D. EL1ZABET1I QUEEN OF BOHEMIA. 159 and out of his own purse expended vast sums of money, to supply the necessities of such as were ready to perish ; an honour beyond all his gallantries and brave exploits in Germany and elsewhere." In the same spirit of philanthropy, whenever a fire broke out in London or its vicinity, so eager was he in his exertions, and so immediately was he ever on the spot, that it was said that, " his horse smelt a fire as soon as it happened." It is remarkable, considering the Earl's well-known exertions on such occasions, that, in 1718, his splendid mansion at Hampstead-Marshall should have been destroyed by fire. "Whether at home or abroad, no one was more generally loved or universally respected. Handsome and gallant in his youth, he was through life agreeable, benevolent, and kind-hearted. If Elizabeth really accepted him as her husband, what more can be said, than that she showed her judgment and her taste. In his attachment there was something amounting almost to romance. A soldier in early life, he was in his heart a soldier to the last. When, at the accession of James II. it was proposed to take away his regiment from the old courtier, "They might as well," he said, "take away my life, for I have nothing else to divert myself with." * Notwithstanding his military tastes, the researches of the Royal Society, and the decoration of his own garden, continued, to extreme old age, to be the sources of pleasure and improvement. A character so amiable may bear to have a single weakness recorded. It is related of him, at the court of Charles II., that he had a failing of whispering in the ears of the principal politicians at court, as if to leave an impression among the by-standers that he was the depo- * See Dalrymple's Memoirs of Great Britain, vol. i., p. 2. 160 ELIZABETH qUEEN OF BOHEMIA. sitory of some state secret. It -was on this account that Lord Keeper Guildford used to style him " Earwig." Charles II. vras once much amused with seeing the Earl of Dorset, -whose high breeding made him a patient listener, undergoing the infliction of Lord Craven's whis- pering. When they parted, the King inquired of Lord Dorset what he had been listening to. "My Lord Craven," said the Earl, " did me the honour to whisper, but I did not think it good manners to listen." * Lord Craven died, 9th of April, 1697, at the age of eighty- eight. * Li-"e of Lord Keeper Guildford, p. IS?. LADY ARASEULA STUART, OB.I6I5. .161 LADY ARABELLA STUART. Character of this Lady Her Genealogy Her Importance in the political Intrigues of the Period Jealousy of Queen Elizabeth, and subsequently of James, with respect to her Her Lover Sir William Seymour, afterwards llarquis of Hertford Her private Marriage to Seymour Persecution consequent on this Imprisonment of Lady Arabella and Seymour Their romantic Escape Pursuit of the Fugitives and Capture of Lady Arabella Her Committal to the Tower and Death Her Burial in Westminster Abbey. THOUGH nearly allied to the throne of England, and an object of jealousy to its possessors, it is remarkable how little is really known of the character of this unfor- tunate lady. By one writer, she is said to have been as little remarkable for beauty as for the qualities of her mind.* By others, her beauty and her genius have been highly extolled. Evelyn places her in his catalogue of learned women, and Philips among his Modern Poetesses.t Lodge in particular speaks of " her good sense, refined education, elegance of manners, and kindness of dispo- sition." Let us, however, draw our own inferences from these contradictory statements, and we shall, perhaps, arrive at the truth. Certain it is, that though she became the object on which ambition centered its views, she was too sensible to be caught in the golden net which was spread for her. That she was artless and feminine in her disposition ; that if she did not excel, she at least was not deficient in mental and personal accomplish- * Biog. Brit, voL L, p. 173. t Ballard, p. 243. TOL. I. J| 162 LADY ARABELLA STUART. inents ; that her life was unhappy, and her end miser- able ; these are nearly all the particulars that can now be told of a character to which so much importance was once attached. Lady Arabella was first-cousin to James the First, being the daughter of Charles Stuart, fifth Earl of Lennox, (was brother to Henry Lord Darnley, the King's father,) by Elizabeth, daughter of Sir William Cavendish, of Hardvvick. James derived his claims to the throne of England, from being the great-grandson of Margaret, daughter of Henry the Seventh. Lady Arabella was her great-granddaughter, by the Queen's second marriage with Archibald Douglas, Earl of Angus, whose daughter, Lady Margaret Douglas, was married to Matthew Earl of Lennox, grandfather to the subject of the present memoir. Lady Arabella was born about the year 1577, and was educated in London under the care of her grand- mother, Margaret Countess of Lennox, who was first- cousin to Queen Elizabeth. The table at page 170 will better explain this family connection, as well as the degree of relationship which existed between Lady Arabella Stuart and her future husband, Sir William Seymour. Lady Arabella was too closely allied to the throne for her own happiness. Through life she was little more than a prisoner at large, whose every movement was watched and suspected. She was undoubtedly a person of considerable importance in the political intrigues of the period. The Papists, encouraged by the unsettled state of the English succession, were anxious to unite her to a foreign prince of their own persuasion. The Pope had thoughts of marrying her to a prince of the House of Farnese, with a view, if possible, of afterwards raising her to the throne of England. The Duke of LADY ARABELLA STUART. 16:', Savoy was also mentioned as a suitable consort.* The famous plot, for which Brooke and others suffered on the scaffold, and Raleigh, Grey, and Cobham, were sentenced to imprisonment, had for its object the elevation of Arabella to the throne, and her marriage with an English nobleman. The jealousy of Queen Elizabeth prevented her relative from embracing several eligible opportunities of entering into the marriage state. James had been desirous of uniting her to her cousin the Duke of Lennox, but being opposed by Elizabeth, the project fell to the ground. The lady herself appears to have been extremely anxious to enter into the matrimonial state, and twice suffered imprisonment in the attempt. Previously to her clan- destine match with Seymour, she had been on the eve of marriage with a son of the Earl of Northumberland. One of Elizabeth's methods of keeping James in proper subserviency, was by opposing the claims of Arabella Stuart to those of the Scottish monarch. "When the latter was about twelve years of age, the Queen pointed her out to the wife of the French Ambassador : " Do you see that little girl ?" she said : " simple as she looks, she may one day sit in this chair of state and occupy my place." Elizabeth neglected her young relation, if she did not actually ill-treat her. When the Queen died, Lady Arabella's near relationship caused her to be spe- cially invited to the funeral. She declined the honour, observing that, as "her access to the Queen had not been permitted in her life-time, she would not after her death be brought upon the stage for a public spectacle." t Her affinity to the blood-royal rendered her no less an object of jealousy with James. He seems to have been * Ballard, p. 248 ; Biog. Brit., p. 173. t Ellis, Orig. Let., vol. iii., p. 59. u 2 164 LADY ARABELLA STUART. in dread lest she should throw herself on the protection of Spain, a step which the existing state of politics might have rendered of unpleasant importance.* It appears, however, by the letters of the time, that as long as the political horizon was tolerably clear, and while there was no suspicion of her entering into the marriage state, she was not unkindly treated at the court of James. At one time the King paid her debts, presented her with a service of plate of the value of two hundred pounds, and made an important addition to her income.f The Lady Arabella's last and accepted lover was Sir William Seymour, afterwards Earl and Marquis of Hertford. The progress and catastrophe of their affec- tion are not without a tincture of romance. We must remember that her lover was afterwards that same Hert- ford so distinguished for his gallantry and loyalty during the civil wars, the same Hertford, who, when his royal master was condemned to the scaffold, with Lindsey, Southampton, and the Duke of Richmond, accused himself, in his capacity of Privy-Counsellor, of being alone guilty ot what was laid to the King's charge, and requested, with those noblemen, that he might die in the place of his sovereign. After the bloody catastrophe was over, he was one of those who accompanied the dead body of Charles, when it was borne in silence, and almost in secrecy, to its last home. He had been the governor of Charles the Second, was a Knight of the Garter, and Chancellor of the University of Cambridge. At the Restoration, Charles II. rewarded his services by re- storing to him the dukedom of Somerset, which had been, forfeited by the attainder of his great-grandfather, the magnificent Protector. The manner in which Charles * Carte, vol ii., p. 811. 1" Winwood's Memorials, vol. iii., p. 117. LADY ARABELLA. STUART. 165 conferred the boon does honour to his heart. He spoke gratefully of Hertford's services in open Parliament, ' If," he said, " I have done an extraordinary act, it was done for an extraordinary person; one who has deserved so much both from my father and myself." * The love of such a man gives dignity to romance. The intercourse between Seymour and Lady Arabella was first discovered in 1609, on which they were summoned before the Privy Council and severely reprimanded. The lady's character having suffered by the disclosure, in order to retrieve it, they were privately married: this event having been allowed to transpire, Seymour was sent to the Tower, and the Lady Arabella confined iu the house of Sir Thomas Parry at Lambeth, from whence she was afterwards removed to Highgate, placed under the charge of Sir James Croft.f On Seymour's entering the Tower, Melvin, who was a prisoner there on account of his reli- gious prejudices, sent him the following distich. The trifle is not without its merit, but the play on the Latin words renders its translation impracticable : Comnmnis tecum mihi causa est carceris : Ara- bella tibi causa est, Araque sacra mihi.J During their imprisonment the lovers found means to communicate ; but their correspondence being discovered, it was determined to send the lady to Durham, a measure which would probably have effectually prevented any subsequent intercourse. Nothing now remained, there- fore, but the hope of escape, to effect which everything had been duly concerted, and, on a certain day, a vessel appointed to be in readiness in the Thames. Seymour, * Collins's Peerage, vol. i., p. 165. t Lodge's Dlust., vol. iu., 178; Biog. Brit., vol. L, p. 175. J Isaac Walton's Series, p. 2S3 ; Ballard, p. 141. 1(50 LADY ARABELLA STUART. leaving his servant in his bed to prevent suspicion, dis- guised himself in a black wig and a pair of black whiskers, and following a cart that had been directed to bring fire- wood to his apartments, walked unquestioned out of the western entrance to the Tower. A boat was in waiting for him at the Tower Wharf, in which he rowed to the part of the river where he expected to meet his bride; but finding that she had sailed without him, he hired another vessel for forty pounds to convey him to Calais, where he eventually arrived in safety. In the mean time, the Lady Arabella, having disguised herself in male attire, " drawing over her petticoats a pair of large French-fashioned hose, putting on a man's doublet, a peruke which covered her hair, a hat, black cloak, russet boots with red tops, and a rapier by her side," managed to elude the vigilance of her keepers, and, under the charge of a Mr. Markham, set out from Highgate on her perilous expedition. They walked some distance to a little inn, where a person attended with horses. She wa?, even at this early period, so overcome with fatigue and anxiety, that the ostler observed, as he held her stirrup, that the young gentleman would scarcely hold out till he arrived in London. Her spirits, however, revived with her increased prospects of escape. At Blackwall she found two female attendants with all the necessary conveniences of female apparel ; and, having entered with them into a boat, proceeded to the part of the river where she expected to be joined by her husband. At Tilbury Fort the boatmen became so fatigued, as to be obliged to go on shore to refresh themse 7 ves, leaving the unfortunate fugitive in the greatest trepidation from the fear of being betrayed. About a mile beyond Lee they discovered and embarked on board the vessel which was waiting for them. Arabella herself was extremely LADY ARABELLA STUA11T. 167 anxious to run all risks, and to remain till the fate of her husband had been ascertained; but being over- come by the fears and importunities of her attend- ants, she eventually allowed the vessel to set sail without him.* The flight of the Lady Arabella was soon discovered, and orders were immediately sent to the Tower to guard Seymour with increased vigilance. On entering his lodgings, however, the truth soon became apparent. The King was much disturbed by the event, and issued a proclamation for their arrest. A fast-sailing vessel, which lay in the Downs, was ordered to put to sea directly ; first proceeding to the Dover roads, and then scouring the coast towards Dunkirk. Unfortunately, the pursuit was successful ; and though the pinnace which conveyed Lady Arabella fired thirteen shots before she would strike, she was eventually brought-to and the fugitive re-conducted to London. She expressed herself less afflicted at her own fate, than overjoyed at the escape of her husband. Her examination and committal to the Tower shortly followed. Here she wore out a miserable existence, and is even said to have ended her days in madness ;f an assertion, however, not sufficiently borne out by facts. "Walpole observes, that her latest letters, though they " do not prove that she had parts, betray no appearance of madness." In one of them she subscribes herself " the * Wilson, 90 ; Winwood, vol. iii., pp. 279, 281. + This supposition appears to have originated in the following passages in two letters of the period : " The Lady Arabella is said to be distracted, which (if it be so) ccmes well to pass for somebody, whom they say she hath nearly touched." Again : " The Lady Arabella is restrained of late, though they say her brain continues still cracked." These letters are dated in 1612 and 1613. Winwood, Tol. iii., p. 454. 168 LADY ARABELLA STUART. most sorrowful creature living." Another supposition also existed, that her death was caused by poison ; a con- jecture as malicious as it was unfounded. Her body was examined after death, in the presence of several eminent physicians, who gave it as their unanimous opinion that she died of a chronic distemper ; her end having been hastened, partly by her own neglect, and partly by her aversion to medicine.* She died on the 27th of Sep- tember, 1615, more than four years after her unfortunate attempt to escape. It is difficult to credit that a man of Seymour's cha- racter should have been captivated by a woman who possessed no accomplishments either of person or mind. Besides, Lady Arabella was a great favourite with her relation, the highly gifted Prince Henry, who, as Birch tells us, "took all occasions of obliging her." This fact alone might lead us to a favourable opinion of her intellectual powers. It is not impossible also but that she had some claim to personal advantages ; at least, if we may argue from a copy of verses addressed to her by William Fowler, Secretary, and Master of the Bequests, to James's Queen. This production, which * Biog. Brit., Tol. i., pp. 176, 177. Camden in Lis Annals inserts the following notice of her dissolution: "27th September, 1615; Arabella Stuart, daughter of Charles, Earl of Lennox, cousin-germain of Henry Darnley, father of King James, died in the Tower of London ; was interred at Westminster, without any funeral pomp, in the night, in the same vault wherein Mary Queen of Scots and Prince Henry were buried. It is the saying of Charles the Fair, that those who die in the King's prison are deservedly deprived of funeral pomp, lest they should be thought to have been thrown into prison wrongfully." (Camden's Annals in Kennet, vol. ii., p. 644.) Bishop Goodman, in his Memoirs, makes a similar remark : " It is true," he says, "that to have a great funeral for one dying out of the King's favour would have reflected upon the King's honour, and therefore it was omitted." Memoirs, vol. i., p. 212. LADY ARABELLA STUAftT. 1G9 is most ingeniously absurd, concludes -with the folding lines : graces rare ! which time from shame shall save, Wherein them breath'st (as in the sea doth iVu, In salt not saltish,) exempt from the grave Of sad remorse, the. lot of worldling's wish. ornament both of thyself and sex, And mirror bright, where virtues doth reflex !* Lady Arabella was buried in Westminster Abbey in the same vault with Mary Queen of Scots and Henry Prince of Wales, but without any memorial of her resting- place.f Caindeu says, her funeral was conducted in the night, and without pomp. An epitaph was written for her by Richard Corbet, Bishop of Norwich. The pro- duction is far from remarkable for poetical talent, and the third and last lines are obscure : How do I thank thee, Death, and bless thy power, That I have pass'd the guard, and 'scaped the Tower ! And now my pardon is my epitaph, And a small coffin my poor carcass hath ; For at thy charge, both soul and body were Enlarged at List, secured from hope and fear ; That amongst saints, this amongst kings is laid, And what my birth did claim, my death hath paid. Ballard informs us that her coffin was at one time so shattered and broken, that her skull and body might be seen. Seymour appears to have regarded his wife's memory with affection. It may be taken as evidence of it, that he called one of his daughters, by his second marriage with Frances, daughter of Robert Devereux Earl of Essex, by the name of Arabella Seymour. J * Lodge, must, vol. iiL, p. 170. t Bollard, p. 243. Biog. Brit, voL L, p. 177. 4) 3 "COC Ctf * ( i o =" w o S !~i < p q 3 1 ^ < a i-? ,> u, r ^ * . -1 -S rf - >, t- a *F WQ S-s s DUKE OF OB, l< ' 171 LODOWICK STUART, DUKE OF RICHMOND. King James's Affection for this Nobleman The Duke's Family Con- nections His singular and sudden Death Parliament prorogued in respect to the Duke's Memory. A NOBLEMAN whose name is never mentioned without eulogy. James the First regarded him with personal affection, and seems fully to have appreciated in him those talents and that strong sense, of which, however, that monarch unfortunately neglected to avail himself. Had he invested him with half the power which he lavished on Somerset and Buckingham, it would have been far better for his own interests and the happiness of his realm. The Duke was related not very distantly to his Sove- reign. He was the younger son of Esme Stuart, Duke of Lennox, and great-nephew to Matthew Earl of Lennox, the King's grandfather. James created him Duke of Richmond, and a Knight of the Garter, and appointed him Lord Steward of the Household. He was three times married: first, to Sophia, daughter of William Earl of Ruthven ; secondly, into the family of Campbell ; and lastly, to Frances, daughter of Viscount Howard of Bindon. In 1604, he was sent Ambassador into France, where he appears t" have been well received by the French court.* * Talbot Papers ; I~'~\ Ii ist., vol. iii., pp. 246,249. 17-2 LODOWICK STUART. His death, which -was singular and sudden, took place oil the 12th of February, 1625. The Duke was to have attended his Majesty in state at the opening of a new Parliament. The King missing him in his place, and making some inquiries as to the reason of his absence, a messenger was instantly despatched to the Duke's resi- dence requiring his attendance. The Duchess, who fancied that she had left him asleep, was induced to open the curtains of his bed, and was horror-struck to discover her husband a corpse. The King appears to have been much affected at the circumstance, and paid an unusual compliment to the Duke's memory, by proroguing the Parliament for a week. DUCHESS OF EICHMO1TD. OB; |l 173 FRANCES HOWARD, DUCHESS OF RICHMOND. Character of this Lady Her Lineage Her First Husband Her Second Marriage Despair and Suicide cf Sir George Rodney, her Lover Her Vanity rebuked by her Second Husband Her Third Marriage (to the Duke of Richmond) Her Ambition on becoming a Widow for the Third Time Her obstinate Arrogance Her affected Sanctity Whimsical Effect of her Vow Her Death. BEAUTY, folly, vanity, and eccentricity, appear to hare constituted the character of this remarkable woman. It is singular that she was the granddaughter of two Dukes, each of whom lost his life on the scaffold. Her father was Thomas, Viscount Howard of Bindon, second son of Thomas Duke of Norfolk, the lover of Mary Queen of Scots. Her mother was the eldest daughter of Edward Stafford, Duke of Buckingham, who fell a victim to the malice of Wolsey and his own ambition. The lady her- self was the third wife of the respectable Duke Lodowick, whose brief memoir has just been introduced. The first husband of Frances Howard was one Prannell, the son of a wealthy vintner of London. Tinder what circumstances the loveliest and proudest woman of her time, and the granddaughter of the two greatest subjects in England, became the wife of a citizen, it has been found impossible to explain. Prannell, however, died iu December, 1599, leaving her a young, childless, and beautiful widow. Sir George Rodney, a gentleman of the west of England, became shortly afterwards her professed 174 FRANCES HOWARD, and ardent admirer. She at first gave him encouragement, but the Earl of Hertford paying her his addresses, influ- enced perhaps by ambition, she jilted the unfortunate knight, and married the Earl. Rodney, unable to endure the pangs of love and jealousy, hastened to Amesbury in Wiltshire, whither Hertford had carried his beautiful bride. Shutting himself up in a private room in the inn, according to Arthur Wilson, he wrote with Ms own blood some atfecting verses descriptive of his misery and bereave- ment, after which he threw himself on his sword and died on the spot. The verses said to have been composed by JRoduey on this occasion, are preserved in the British Museum, and may possibly be authentic. The singu- larity of the circumstances must be the apology for their insertion. What shall I do that am undone ! Where shall I fly, myself to shun t Ah me ! myself myself must kill, And yet I die against my will. In starry letters I behold My death in the heavens enroll'd. There find I writ in skies above, That I, poor I, must die for love. 'Twas not my love deserved to die, no, it was unworthy I; 1 for her love should not have died, But that I had no worth beside. Ah me ! that love such woes procures, For, without her, no love endures. I for her virtues her do serve, Doth such a love a death deserve I Hertford does not appear to have repented of his choice, for he subsequently settled a jointure on his Countess of five thousand pounds a year. In his life- time she was very fond of boasting of her high extraction, DUCHESS OF RICHMOND. 17") and of the two Dukes her grandfathers. However, if the Earl happened to enter the room, he used to give her pride a check, by asking, " Frank. Frank, how long is it since you were married to Prannell ? " Duke Lodowick fell in love with her while she was yet Countess of Hertford, and used to watch her motions in disguise ; " sometimes in a blue coat and basket-hilt sword," as well as in other costumes. Scandal, however, appears to have taken no liberties with her name, and at Hertford's death the Duke gratified her ambition by making her his wife. Her marriage with a near relation to the Sovereign excited her pride beyond all bounds ; and becoming a third time a widow, she entertained a hope of captivating the old King, and filling the place of his deceased Queen. The arrogant beauty actually announced her determina- tion never to eat at the table of a subject, or to marry again beneath the rank of majesty ; and though neither James, nor any other monarch, was gallant enough to tender her his hand, she persevered in her resolution to the last. She delighted in state and notoriety, and endeavoured by every manner of artifice to obtain a character for splendour and generosity. At the christening of one of the Queen of Bohemia's children, she caused a report to be propagated that she had forwarded a magnificent present of plate to that Princess. An inventory of the different articles was even handed about at the time, but the donation only existed in air. The Duchess affected sanctity as well as state ; and in the letters of the time there are frequent allusions to the spiritual conferences maintained at her house. On the 1st of March, 1634, Mr. Garrard writes to the Earl of Strafford, " The Duchess of Richmond droops very much of late ; she 176 FRANCES HOWARD. keeps her state of sermons and white staves, but hath been a good while not able to hear one sermon, or come amongst the company." * Archbishop Laud, in his crusade against Puritanism, was ungallant enough to interfere with her Grace's establishment, and effectually put a stop to this private preaching. Her vow never to sit at table with a subject was turned to an ingenious use. Her house was always fre- quented by the principal persons of the court, on which occasions her hall was filled with menials, and her tables groaned with dishes. But these it seems were empty, and as soon as the visitors had departed, the Duchess sat dowu. alone to an extremely moderate repast.f Prom the probability that her early marringe with Prannell was a mere love-match, and from the eccentric manner in which the Duke endeavoured to gain her affections, there is reason to believe that she had more romance in her composition than common sense. The death of the Duchess is said to have taken place in 1679, from which there is every reason to believe that she must have attained the age of a hundred at the time of her demise. * Stafford Letters, vol. i., p. 374. f Wilson, p. 253. 177 MARY VILLIERS, COUNTESS OF BUCKINGHAM. Character of this Lady Her Origin Her Marriage to Sir George Villiers Her Relations, the Beaumonts of Leicestershire Sir Thomas Beaumont's Proceedings against his Clerk, Coleman Escape of the latter from Punishment Death of Sir George Villiers Second Marriage of his widow (to Sir Thomas Compton) Duel between Compton and Bird Unexampled Rise of Lady Compton' s Son Her own Aggrandisement She is created Countess of Buckingham Advancement of her family Change in the Customs and Appearance of James's Court The Countess banished from the Court Cause of this Influence possessed by the Countess over her all-powerful Son Her Belief in the Tenets of the Church of Rome Polemical Controversy Buckingham's Arrogance to Henrietta Maria Death and Burial of the Countess. THE mother of the magnificent favourite whose history more properly belongs to the next reign ; a busy, in- triguing, masculine, and dangerous person ; not deficient in personal beauty, but rendered odious, from what we can learn of her character, by every possible irregularity of mind. She is principally remarkable as having been the mother of the great Duke. The Peerages, ever complaisant, speak of her as having been " the daughter of Anthony Beaumont, of Glenfield, in the county of Leicester, Esq." Her own importance at the court of James, and tho grandeur which was achieved by her family, may render her actual origin a matter of interest. Roger Coke, in his " Detection of the Court of England," informs us, on the authority of his aunt, who was connected by marriage with the Villiers' 178 MAEY V1LLIERS, family, that she was a kitchen-maid in old Sir George Yilliers's establishment; that he became enamoured of her, and persuaded his lady to place her about her own person ; and adds, that after the death of his wife, Sir George presented her with twenty pounds to improve her dress, which appears to have produced so wonderful an effect, that shortly afterwards he married her. Weldon styles her, " A gentlewoman whom the old man fell in love with and married." Arthur Wilson's account is somewhat different. The old knight, he informs us, was on a visit to his kins- woman, Lady Beaumont, at Cole-horton, in Leicester- shire, where he found a " young gentlewoman of that name, allied, and yet a servant to the family," who caught his affections, and whom he afterwards took for his wife. Her name was undoubtedly Beaumont, and, however distantly, she was certainly connected with the Leices- tershire family of that name. Her kiuspeople do not appear to have been gifted with over much morality. One Coleinan, a clerk to Sir Thomas Beaumont, had very marked attention paid to him both by Lady Beau- mont and her daughters. He was mean enough to boast of this, on hearing which Sir Thomas brought him before the Star Chamber, where he was sen- tenced to be pilloried, whipped, and imprisoned for life. Forman, the celebrated astrologer, assured Cole- man's friends that the culprit would manage to elude the punishment. The prediction proved correct. The sen- tence was directed to be carried into effect in Leicester- shire, whither the culprit was attended by two keepers, who, as well as himself, journeyed on horseback. Cole- man, who had induced the keepers to allow him to ride without shackles, seized a convenient opportunity, when he stabbed the horses of his companions, and escaped on COUNTESS OF BUCKINGHAM. 179 his own.* There are some amusing circumstances con- nected with Forman's insight into the affair, but they are scarcely fit for insertion. Sir George Villiers died in 1606, leaving his young \vidow with an income of only two hundred pounds a-year. She was twice married after his death, first to Sir William Rayner, of whom we know nothing, and secondly to Sir Thomas Compton, whom Coke styles a rich country grazier, adding, that she married him in order to make up her own deficiency of fortune. Of this Compton an amusing anecdote has been related. He is represented as an insignificant, mean-spirited man, who allowed himself to be generally laughed at and insulted, and more particularly by one Bird, " a roaring captain," who seems to have been his arch-tormentor, and "was incessant in his provocations. Compton'a friends, how- ever, eventually so wrought on his peaceful nature (telling him that he had better die at once than endure such a system of persecution), that he was induced to send Bird ;i challenge. The latter, as the individual challenged, had the choice of place and weapons ; accordingly he selected swords and a saw-pit, intimating to Comptou's second that his object in selecting the latter place was to prevent the possibility of his principal running away. The com- batants actually met in a saw-pit, when Bird, contemp- tuously flourishing his sword over his head, began to jeer at Compton, a much smaller man than himself, on the new light in which he was presenting himself. The latter, perceiving his adversary's weapon in the air, ran under it, and passing his own sword through Bird's body, killed him on the spot.f The unexampled rise of her son was a new era in the existence of Lady Villiers. It raised her from, an Lilly's Life of Himself, p. 20. f Wilson, p. 143. M 2 180 HAUY VILLIEES, impoverished country lady to be the proud manager of a court. On the 1st of July 1618, she was created by letters patent Countess of Buckingham in her own person, an unusual kind of distinction, of which the last example had been in the days of Queen Mary.* The Countess did not leave her family in the back- ground, and if beauty be deserving of rank, the honours which were lavished upon them were not ill bestowed. Besides the splendid rise of her fortunate sou, she lived to see her eldest son, Yiscount Purbeck ; t her third, Earl of Anglesea ; J and her daughter, Countess of Denbigh. Of the two half-brothers of the Duke, the sons of Sir George Villiers by his first wife, Audrey Sanders, William was one of the first Baronets, and from Sir Edward, President of Munster, are descended the Viscounts Grandison and the Earls of Clarendon and Jersey. " The King," says Arthur Wilson, who never cared much for women, "had his court swarming with the Marquis's kindred, so that the little ones would dance up and down the private lodgings like fairies, and it was no small sap that would maintain all those suckers." Bishop Goodman also, in his Memoirs, alludes to the alteration in the King's habits and feelings: "The King," he says, " did usually send for the nurse and the Duke's children into his own bed-chamber, and there play with them many hours together. And the King being cnce with the children, news was brought him that there was an ambassador come to speak with him, where- * Reliq. Wott. p. 237. t John, created, in 1619, Baron Villiers of Stoke, and Viscount Purbeck. J Christopher, created, in 1G23, Baron Darentry and Earl of Anglesea. Susan, wife of William Fielding Earl of Denbigh, the ancestor of the present Earl. COUNTESS OP BUCKINGHAM. 181 upon he willed the nurse to stay there with the children, and when he had spoken with the ambassador he would come again to her. This the nurse herself told me." This change in the customs and appearance of James's court appears to have amused others besides Goodman and Wilson. Weldon says: "Little children did run up and down the King's lodgings like little rabbits started about their burrows Here was a strange change, that the King who formerly would not endure his Queen and children in his lodgings, now you would have judged that none but women frequented them ; nay, that was not all, but the kindred had all the houses about Whitehall, as if they had been bulwarks and flankers to that citadel." By the author of the Aulicus CoquinariaD they are stvled " a race handsome and beautiful," an here- ditary gift, if we may judge by many a fair face of later times. About the year 1G22 the Countess was banished the court, as was supposed, for her attachment to the Roman Catholic religion. It appears, however, by a letter of the time,* that she owed her dismissal to a far different cause. A chain, valued at 3000Z. which had belonged to Anne of Denmark, had been presented by the King, at the instigation of Prince Charles, to the Duchess of Lennox, and by the Prince himself placed round the lady's neck. The Countess of Buckingham was not a little annoyed at so great an honour and so valuable a present having been conferred on another. The next day she actually sent a messenger to the Duchess, affirming that the King had especial reasons for wishing to regain possession of the chain, which he would replace by some other article no less valuable, and desiring that it might be returned * Dr. ifeade to Sir Martin Stutsville, 8 June, 1622. Elliit Orig. Letters, vol. i. p. 130. 182 MARY VILLIEUS, accordingly. " The messenger," writes Dr. Meade, " who went in the King's name, and not hers, being sounded by the amazed Duchess, whether himself had heard that order from the King, or not, at last confessed he was sent by the Countess, who had it from his Majesty. Where- upon the Duchess bid him tell the Countess, that she would not so much dishonour the Prince who brought it, as to suffer it to be carried back by any hand but his, or her own; for if his Majesty would have it, she would carry it herself; which the next day she performed, desiring to know wherein she offended his Majesty. The King, understanding the business, swore he was abused : and the Prince told him that he took it for so great an affront on his part, that he would leave the court it' she stayed in it ; with no small expression of indig- nation. My author for this was Sir "William Bourser, of Uppingham." The Countess, undoubtedly, had great influence over her all-powerful son, and is reported to have been the actual dispenser of the immense patronage which osten- sibly flowed from his hands. She had no objection to a bribe. Henry Montague, Earl of Manchester, is said to have obtained the office of Lord Privy Seal at her hands, for a large sum. The White tfto^had been conferred on him at Newmarket, where there is a great scarcity of timber. A friend, alluding to these circumstances, plea- santly inquired of the Earl, " if wood were not extremely dear at Newmarket." She had a hand in all transactions both of Church and State, and the suppliants for her son's favour in the first instance addressed themselves to her. In allusion to this influence, as well as to her being a Roman Catholic, Gondomar, the Spanish ambassador, with more wit than reverence, thus expresses himself in one of his despatches to his own court : " There was COUNTESS OF BUCKINGHAM. 183 never more hope of England's conversion to the Eomish faith than now; for here there are more prayers offered to the mother than the son." * Lord Keeper Williams, also, then Dean of Westminster, is sard to have been indebted to her influence for the Bishopric of Durham and the custody of the Great Seal. Indeed, there rests a suspicion that the existence of a tender familiarity between them was the secret of his ri.se.f Her belief in the tenets of the Church of Rome was considered of some importance in her lifetime, since on this foundation rested the hopes of the Papists of con- verting the Duke her son. Previous, however, to her open and dangerous confession of being a proselyte, Buckingham, aware of the odium which such a disclosure would entail upon himself, exerted his utmost influence to bring her back to her original principles. James, moreover, never averse to polemical controversies, entered warmly into this laudable endeavour. One Fisher, a Jesuit, had already brought her to the eve of an open declaration. In opposition, therefore to the arguments of the zealous father, the Duke brought forward Dr. Francis White, Divinity Lecturer at St. Paul's, and celebrated for his controversial dexterity, who con- sented to encounter the Jesuit in the lady's presence, and overthrow his arguments against the Protestant Church. One or two conferences accordingly took place, at one of which the King was himself present. Dr. White's arguments appear to have produced but alight influence on the Countess. In Buckingham, however, they were remarkable, as having adventitiously excited an interest in his own spiritual welfare. He took the doctor into his fiivour, and, on the Sunday * Wilson, p. 149. t Balfour, vol. ii. p. 93. 184 MARY VILLIERS, COUNTESS OF BUCKINGHAM. following the last conference, received the Sacrament at Greenwich.* Buckingham was attached to his mother with all her faults, and could not endure that she should be treated with disrespect. Henrietta Maria, in the ensuing reign, had promised on some occasion to visit the Countess in her apartments, but from some unavoidable cause was prevented from keeping her appointment. The arrogant favourite entered the chamber of his Queen ; and after some expostulation, told her in plain terms that " she should repent it." Henrietta, naturally retorting with some indignation, the Duke reminded her " that there had been Queens in England icTio had lost their heads." f In all probability the quarrel had a deeper origin than a mere neglect in the payment of a visit. The Countess died on the 19th of April, 1632, at her apartments in the Gate-house, Whitehall, which opened into King Street, Westminster. She was buried with considerable pomp in St. Edmund's chapel, in the south- aisle of Westminster Abbey. J * Heylin's Life of Laud, p. 95 ; Bishop Hackct's LL"e of Lord Keeper Williams, part ii. p. 171. t Clarendon's Hist, of the Rebellion, vol. i., p. 69. Collins's Peerage, vol. iv., p. 177 ; Granger, vol. iii., p. 223. 165 THOMAS SACKVILLE, EARL OF DORSET. His literary Accomplishments and political Services His poetical Works His wanton Extravagance Cause of his Reformation His sudden Death His FuneraL THOMAS SACKYILLE, Earl of Dorset, was more remark- able from his literary accomplishments than his political talent. He was distinguished, however, for a strong sense, an unimpeachable integrity, and a cautious pru- dence, which perhaps are more to be coveted than genius itself. These qualities, added to the antiquity of his family, and the large fortune he inherited from his father, not only procured his elevation to the peerage, but caused him to be employed in several delicate transactions, wherein none but a very sensible and loyal man would have been trusted. It is singular that he sat among the peers who condemned Thomas Duke of Norfolk to the scaffold ; that he was Lord High Steward at the trial of the unfortunate Essex ; and that he was not only one of the commissioners appointed to try Mary Queen of Scots, but was selected to communicate to that Princess the intelligence that her days were numbered. The Earl was the eldest son of Sir Richard Sackville, who had been favoured by Elizabeth, and was related to the Queen through the Boleyns. His son was born at Buckhurst, in Sussex, in 1527. He received his education at the Universities both of Oxford and Cambridge ; was 186 THOMAS SACKVILLE, early distinguished as a composer of Latin and English verses ; was afterwards entered at the Inner Temple, and was elected for the county of Sussex in the first parlia- ment of Elizabeth. On the 8th of June, 1566, he was created Lord Buckhurst by Elizabeth, and on the 13tli of March, 1604, Earl of Dorset by James the First. Besides having been employed successively as Ambassador to France and the United Provinces, and having been joined in several important commissions, he was Lord High Treasurer, a Knight of the Garter, and Chancellor of the University of Oxford. He wrote several poems, besides being, with Thomas Norton, the joint author of " Gorboduc," the earliest regular tragedy in the English language. It was acted by the gentlemen of the Inner Temple, of which society Sackville was at this period a member, before the Queer, at Whitehall on the 18th of January, 1561. In a subse- quent edition it was entitled the tragedy of " Ferrex and Porrex." This play, notwithstanding its acknowledged merit, was singularly scarce even within the century after it was written ; Shakspeare's glorious plays and Jonson's exquisite masques having annihilated common genius. Dryden and Oldham, in the succeeding age, amused themselves with ridiculing Dorset's dramatic effort ; which, however, it has been proved they could never have read, for each of them speaks of Gorboduc as a woman. Anthony Wood has fallen into a no less curious error, intimating that Gorboduc was written in old English rhyme. Pope was a great admirer of Lord Dorset's muse, and does credit to the purity of his style, and that freedom from bombast, which was the great fault of our early tragic writers. He styles him the best poet between Chaucer and Spenser. Undoubtedly the work which EARL OP DORSET. best displays his poetical powers is the Induction to the Mirror for Magistrates. Mr. Hallam observes of it, in his Introduction to the Literature of Europe: "It is like much earlier poetry, a representation of allegorical personages, but with a fertility of imagination, vividness of description, and a strength of language, which not only leave his predecessors far behind, but may be fairly compared with some of the most poetical passages of Spenser." Dr. Drake says of this poem, that " for strength and distinctness of imagery, it is almost unrival- led;" and Campbell remarks, in his Specimens of the British Poets, that it " resembles a bold and gloomy landscape, on which the sun never shines." Lord Dorset carried his refined taste and elegance into ordinary life, and from his eloquence was styled the bell of the Star Chamber. Dorset, in his younger days, had been remarkable as a mail of pleasure and a spendthrift. His vast hereditary fortune had at one time nearly passed through his hands ; and by his appointment to the Treasnrership, he afforded a by no means solitary instance of an individual, who had wantonly squandered his own fortune, being entrusted with the purse of the public. This is not mentioned as a matter of reproach ; since, whatever may have been his early faults, no man ever administered the public revenues with more credit to himself, or advantage to his country. The incident which occasioned the Earl's reformation is curious. His necessities obliging him to borrow a sum of money, he applied to a wealthy alderman for his assistance. Happening one day to call at the citizen's house, he was allowed to remain a considerable time unnoticed and alone. This indignity, to which his mis- conduct compelled him to submit, so wrought upon his feelings, that he resolved from that moment to alter his 188 THOMAS SACKVILLE, EARL OF DORSET. mode of life. It may be added that lie conscientiously- adhered to his resolution. The Earl died suddenly at the Council Board, of a dropsy in the brain, on the 10th of April, 1608. In the heat of argument he rose from his scat ; and as he drew some papers from his bosom, exclaimed vehemently, " I have that here which will strike you dead." He fell down at the moment, and died almost immediately.* The Queen, Anne of Denmark, was present when he expired. His funeral took place in Westminster Ahbey, where he was buried with great solemnity, the Archbishop of Canterbury preaching his funeral sermon on the occa- sion. His body is said to have been afterwards removed, according to a request in his last will, to the parish church of Withiani, in Sussex.f * Aubrey's Letters of Eminent Men, vol. ii., p. 334. + Athens Ojcon. vol., p. 347 ; Biog. Brit., vol. v., p. 3543 ; Biog. Dram. vol. iii., p. 237 ; Granger, vol. ii., p. IS ; Collins's Peerage, vol. ii,, p. 159, in which works the life and character of this nobleman are most fully treated of. See also Osborne, Wilson, Naunton, Fuller's Worthies, Sir Egerton Brydges, Gibber, Warton, Walpole, and Campbell. The Earl has no reason to complain of neglect. ROBERT (DEC3L, EARL OF SALISBURY. 6i2, 189 EGBERT CECIL, EARL OF SALISBURY. Ilia Genius as a Statesman His Rise in Power, and Elevation to the Earldom of Salisbury His personal Character Lady Derby and Queen Elizabeth Salisbury's Gallantry His Knowledge of King James's Character His Employment of Spies His Secret Cor- respondence with James during the Life of Elizabeth Critical Incident Salisbury's Account of his Situation as a Favourite His miserable Death Account of hia last Sickness by his Chaplain Hi* Funeral at Hatfield, "Wirn a genius almost equal to that of hia father, the great Lord Burleigh, Eobert Cecil possessed a wonderful knowledge of human character, and that insinuating art, which, \\ hile it worms out the secrets of others, preserves its own object in the dark. Artifice and dissimulation are unpopular qualities ; and when practised by the statesman in his public capacity, are too apt to affect his character in private life. Such was the lot of Salisbury. Party feeling has added its withering curse, and the name of the greatest politician of Ins time is seldom mentioned without obloquy. Still, however, it would be difficult to discover a single instance where the wisdom of his administration can justly be called in question. The appointments which he mnde were admirable : as High Treasurer he gave vigour to an exhausted exchequer, and in a corrupt age afforded proof that he was incorruptible. Temptations, which even the great Bacon was unable to resist, were by him disregarded. There have been many 190 EGBERT CECIL, worse men, and few wiser ministers, than Eobert Cecil, Earl of Salisbury. He was born on the 1st of June, 1563, and was early initiated into public life. Lloyd, in his Worthies, styles him a " courtier from his cradle." In June. 1501, he was knighted by Elizabeth, and on the 13th of May, 1603, was created, by James, Baron Cecil of Essmgden ; and on the 20th of August, 1G04, Viscount Cranbourn. He was the first Viscount who ever wore a coronet.* On the 4th of May, 1(505, he was raised to the Earldom of Salisbury. It would be out of place to enter here into the details of his political history. Besides his state appointments, he was a Knight of the Garter, and Chan- cellor of the University of Cambridge. He was married to Elizabeth, daughter of William Brooke, Lord Cobham : she died in child-bed, in 1591. The Earl was deformed in his body, but his face is de- scribed as handsome. Lloyd says, " For his person he was not much beholden to nature, though somewhat for his face, which was the best part of his outside."f He was cheerful and good-humoured : he delighted in all mirthful meetings, and had a laudable taste for magnificence. Gallantry, in the courtly cabinet of Elizabeth, was almost considered as a kind of duty, and the young secretary was not unmindful of his part. The following passage is from a letter to the Earl of Shrewsbury, dated 18th September, 1592 : " I send your Lordship here inclosed some verses, compounded by Mr. Secretary, who got Hales to frame a ditty unto it. The occasion was, as I hear, that the young Lady Derby, wearing about her neck in her bosom a picture which was in a dainty tablet, the Queen espying it, asked what fine jewel that * Coronets were not allowed to the Barons of England till the reiga of Charles the Second. f State Worthies, vol. ii., p. 16. EARL OP SALISBURY. 191 was. The Lady Derby* was curious to excuse the showing of it ; but the Queen would have it ; and opening it, and finding it to be Mr. Secretary's, snatched it away, and tied it upon her shoe, and walked long with it there; then she took it thence and pinned it to her elbow, and wore it some time there also, which. Mr. Secretary being told of, made these verses, and had Hales to sing them in his chamber. It was told her Majesty, that Mr. Secretary had rare music and songs; she would needs hear them; and so this ditty was suug, which you see first written. More verses there be likewise, whereof some or all were likewise sung. I do boldly send these things to your Lordship, which I would not do to any else ; for I hear they are very secret. Some of the verses argue that he repines not, though her Majesty pleases to grace others, and contents himself with the favour he hath." The poetry unfortunately has escaped the industry both of Park and Walpole. liis admiration of women, which was carried to unfor- tunate lengths, is frequently alluded to in the lampoons of the day. Sir Symouds D'Evves speaks of him as a "good statesman and no ill member of the Common- wealth, though an ill Christian in respect of his unparal- leled lust, and hunting after strange flesh." Bishop Goodman, also, evidently admits the accusation to be deserved. This taste has been occasionally supposed to be connected with the cause of his death. No one understood better the character of King James, or availed himself of that know ledge with greater dexterity. " Knowing the King to be fearful," says Bishop Good- man, " he did often possess him with jealousies and dangers, and then he in his wisdom would prevent them, * Elkateth, eldest daughter of Edward, seventh Earl of Oxford, and wife of William, sixth Earl of Derby. 193 ROBERT CECIL, and so ingratiate himself with the King." In the same spirit was his transfer of Theobalds to his sovereign : though he received in exchange lands far exceeding it in value, he had the ingenuity to persuade his royal master that he was obliging him by the act.* The system of acquiring information through the means of spies was practised by him to a great extent. He employed them at all the principal courts in Europe, and paid large sums for the intelligence which he received. His subtlety and sagacity were fully appreciated by his master King James, with whose notions of king-craft they fully coincided. "With that monarch these were the qualities of a master-mind. He used to style Salis- bury, and even commenced his letters to him, as " his little beagle." f Antonio Perez, secretary to the King of Spain, used to style him Robertus Diabolus, Robert the Devil.t The Earl had wisely anticipated the favour of James in the life-time of Elizabeth, and had long corresponded with that Prince as to the best means of seem-in" 1 his O accession to the English throne. Had the circumstance become known to the Queen, it would undoubtedly have ended in his utter ruin. On one occasion she was on the very verge of being enlightened on the subject. She happened to be taking the air on Blackheath, when a state courier passed by the carriage with despatches. Ascertaining that he came from Scotland, she demanded his papers, which were delivered to Cecil, who was in the coach at the time. The secretary trembled for his secrets, but his admirable presence of mind preserved him. He did not hesitate a moment in breaking open * Lingard, vol. ix., p. 87. f Gollins's Memorials, vol. ii., p. 325. 1 BLrcli's Memoirs of Queen Elizabeth, vol. ii., p. 307. EA11L OP SALISBURY. 193 the despatches, for delay might have awakened suspicion ; but having done so, he told the Queen that they looked and " smelt ill-favouredly," a circumstance which, from his knowledge of her character, he was well aware would effectually arrest her curiosity.* Sir Henry "Wotton relates the above story, adding that Cecil gained a con- siderable time by inquiring among the by-standers for a knife. Salisbury, it may be remarked, draws no very agreeable picture of his own situation either as a minister or a favourite. He passed his time, he tells us, " in trouble, hurrying, feigning, suing, and such like matters, knowing not where the winds and waves of the court might bear him." There is an instructive moral in this unvarnished sentence, proceeding as it does from the envied minister of two successive monarchs. To Sir "Walter Cope he remarked, in his last illness : " Ease and pleasure quake to hear of death ; but my life, full of cares and miseries, desireth to be dissolved." * Wilson, p. ii. The story is somewhat differently related by Bishop Goodman, in his Memoirs: "The correspondency," he says, 1 ' held with the King of the Scots was ever sent by the French post and not by Berwick, for he knew that the Queen being most wise, was ever jealons and suspicious of such correspondency ; and no doubt but she had her spies to discover it. And her Majesty one day walking in Greenwich Park, heard the Post blow his horn ; whereupon she caused the Post to be brought unto her, and willed him to lay down his packet of letters, for that she would peruse them. The news was brought to the Secretary, who instantly hastens and kneels before the Queen, and humbly beseecheth her Majesty not to disgrace him in that manner, for that all men would conceive it to be out of a jealousy and suspicion of him, which would much tend to his dishonour and disgrace, whereby he should be disenabled to do her Majesty that good service which other- wise he might ; and seeing that never any Prince did the like, and that it might be a warning and discouragement to other servants. Where- upon the Queen was over- en treated to desist, and no doubt but by the entreaty of the ladies and others there present." Bishop Goodman's Memoirs, vol. i., p. 32. VOL. I. 194 EGBERT CECIL, A kind of mystery has always hung over the painful circumstances of Salisbury's end. The scandalous chro- niclers of the period have invested it with peculiar degradation. "Weldon remarks, " "With all his great honours, and possessions, and stately houses, he found no place but the top of a mole-hill, near Marlborough, to end his miserable life ; so that it may be said of him, and truly, he died of a most loathsome disease, and remark- able, without house, without pity, without the favour of that master who had raised him to so high an estate." Osborne echoes the story as told by "Weldon, asserting that the Earl died on Salisbury Plain in his coach, and that his death was caused by a loathsome disease. The doctor, he adds, who attended him, was an empiric, and only famous for the cure of such disorders. A great part of this story it is not very difficult to disprove. As far, however, as regards the particular disease alluded to, it is right to add that it is hinted at by more than one writer, and in several pasquinades, of the period. The following seem to be the true circum- stances of Salisbury's last illness and death: His laborious attention to state affairs had brought on a consumption of the lungs, which, added to a scorbutic affection, had continued to waste and afflict him for many years. To these we may add an immoderate passion for fruit. "Being crooked in body," says Bishop Goodman, " the veins have not that current passage, and, therefore, such bodies are usually neither healthful nor long-lived : hereunto I may add, that he was much given to eating of fruits, especially grapes, and that very im- moderately ; if some shall further add the fruits of wantonness, I take no notice thereof." His physicians had recommended a journey to Bath, but finding his residence there productive of no advantage, he expressed EARL OF SALISBURY. 195 a wish to return and die in his own home. On his way to London he was taken so ill, that, having fainted in his litter, it was thought most expedient to place him in his coach, and convey him to Marlborough. He died at the house of a Mr. Daniel, in that town. His son, Lord Cranbourne, Lord Clifford, his son-in-law, and several of his friends, were with him at the last.* So far was he from having forfeited the King's favour, that James visited the Earl's sick bed more than once before his departure for Bath, and also gave minute directions that he should be attended with unremitting O care. Moreover, a report coming from Bath that the minister was in a likely way to recover, James despatched Lord Hay to him with a diamond ring, to which he added a message, " that the favour and affection he bore him, was, and should be ever, as the form and matter of that ring, endless, pure, and most perfect." t A very interesting account of the Earl's last sickness was drawn up by his chaplain, the Reverend Joliu Bowles, of which the following are the most remarkable passages : " On Saturday, May 23, we went to Marl- borough, where my Lord was very ill, and ready to faint. In the chamber we had prayers. Afterwards my Lord was undressed, went to bed, and slept ill. " On Sunday, May, 24, the lords commanded me to preach at the church. After sermon we came into his chamber, where we found him very weak, and no posture could give him ease. We went to prayer. And though my Lord's weakness was very much, yet with a devout gesture standing up on his crutches, he with affection repeated the material parts and passages of the prayer. * Aulicus Coquinariae, in Sec. Hist, of James I., vol. ii., p. 156; Collins' s Memorials, vol. ii., p. 327 ; Sanderson, p. 383. t Biog. Brit. vol. ii., p. 1272. 02 196 KOBERT CECIL, And all the rest of the time till we went to dinner, all his speech was nothing but, O Jesus ! sweet Jesus ! and such short ejaculations as the weakness of his body did give him leave. " After dinner Dr. Foe did rise, and I came unto him. My Lord's head lay upon two pillows upon Master Townsend's lap. Ralph Jackson was mending the swing that supported him. ' So,' saith he, ' let me up but this once.' Then he called to Dr. Poe for his hand, which having, he griped somewhat hard, and his eyes began to settle, when he cried, ' Lord,' and so sinked down, without groan, or sigh, or struggling. At the same instant I joined in prayer with him, that God would receive his soul and spirit, which short words being suddenly spoken by me, he was clean gone, and no breath nor motion in him." * His memory, it must be admitted, was generally re- garded with detestation ; a feeling, however, not difficult to be accounted for, by the immense fortune which he had amassed; his inclosures of Hatfield Chase; some unfounded reports of oppressive conduct ; and his unac- countable treatment of Raleigh : moreover, the death of Essex had been neither forgotten nor forgiven by the people. Yet even his enemies speak warmly of his incorruptible honesty. Osborne gives him credit for superior probity, and Sir Symonds D'Ewes speaks of him, as having supplied the expenses of the Crown without impoverishing the subject: what can a Lord Treasurer do more? Thomas, Earl of Dorset, one of those men whose good word is valuable, mentions Salisbury with the highest encomiums in his will. He bequeaths him his " rich chain of gold, with a George set with rubies and diamonds : likewise a garter of purple * Desiderata Curiosa, vol. i. lib. vi., p. 15. EAB.L OF SALISBURY. 197 velvet, with two chains of gold on each side, set with twelve diamonds, and one great diamond in the middle of the buckle ; and several other jewels." * The death of the Earl took place on the 24th of May, 1612. His remains were conveyed to Hatfield, where they were interred with considerable magnificence. * Collins's Memorials, vol. ii., p. 325. 198 EGBERT CARE, EARL OF SOMERSET. Strange Infatuation of James I. Origin of Carr's Advancement His Power at Court He is created Earl of Somerset, and becomes first Minister His intimate Friendship with Sir Thomas Overbury His Popularity His Choice of a Mistress Marriage of the Earl of Essex and Frances Howard The nuptial Mask Separation of the youthful Pair Profligacy of the Bride Lady Esses divorced and married to Somerset Overbury's Opposition to this Union The Lady's meditated Revenge Overbury committed to the Tower Project to poison" ,-him Overbury's Death Somerset's Remorse, and Decline in the Royal Favour His Apprehension for the Murder of Overbury The King's detestable Hypocrisy. Execution of Somerset's Accomplices Examination into the Cause of the Murder of Overbury James's Anxiety to get rid of Somerset Examination of the latter by Commissioners James's Letters to Sir George More Trial of Somerset His Condemnation and Sentence Reprieve of himself and his Countess Their full Pardon Interview between the King and Somerset Marriage of Anne, Daughter of Somerset, to the Earl of Bedford Redeeming Trait in the Character of Somerset His Death. IT was a strange infatuation which induced James the First to select his ministers for the beauty of their persons and the fashion of their clothes. But this weakness amounted to criminality, when he entrusted the honour of his country, and the welfare and happi- ness of his people, to a weak, grasping, and illiterate minion. The instances are not few, where men hare been raised by mere accident to unbounded power. In the first rank of these stands Eobert Carr. He was descended from a ROBERT CARR, EARL OF SOMERSET. 199 respectable Scottish family,* and had spent some years in France, acquiring the necessary qualifications of a courtier. Some writers have asserted, that he had been a favourite of James, in Scotland, and at the coronation was made a Knight of the Bath. This is not the fact. Carr had certainly been a royal page before the accession of James to the throne of England : he was, however, a mere child at the time, and many years must have elapsed before his re-introduction at Court, in 1609. f Harris says, that he was dismissed from his post of page, but this appears solely to rest on the authority of that party writer. " He then," continues the same authority, "went into France, from whence returning, through accident, was taken notice of by James." This me- morable accident occurred under the following circum- stances : At a splendid tilting match at "Whitehall, Carr had been selected by his countryman, Lord Hay, to present his shield and device to the King. As he rode up the lists, in the execution of this duty, his horse became unmanageable, and threw him before the King's face. James, struck with the beauty of his person, and concerned at the severity of the accident, for his leg had been broken by the fall, gave directions that he should be conveyed to the palace, and carefully attended by the royal surgeons. As soon as the tilting was over, the King paid him a visit. He returned the next day, and, indeed, as long as the confinement lasted, was daily in the habit of passing an hour or two in the chamber of the fortunate invalid. On his recovery, for which James * Sanderson, p. 376, calls him a ' ' Scottish-man of no eminencie, "but a gentleman by his bearing Gules, on a cheviron Arg. ; three mullets, Sable ; in the dexter point of the escutcheon, a lion, passant gardant, Or." t Five years of King James, p. 7 ; Wilson, p. 55 ; Aulicua Coquinarise. 200 EGBERT CARR, was exceedingly impatient, he was made a knight, and a gentleman of the bedchamber. The King even turned schoolmaster on the occasion, for he endeavoured to instil into his new favourite the rudiments of government, and a knowledge of the Latin tongue.* Probably Carr was not an apt scholar. When made a Privy Councillor, Peyton says, that "he furnished his library only with twenty play-books and wanton romances, and that he had no other in his study." The rising of the new star was watched with the utmost anxiety by the harpies of the Court. They flocked in such numbers to his sick chamber, that a restraint was obliged to be laid on their visits,f lest his recovery should be retarded by their attentions. It was not long before he became the disposer of all the important places about the Court : as has been said of a greater man, Cardinal "Wolsey : To Mm the church, the realm, their powers consign, Through him the rays of regal bounty shine ; Still to new heights his restless wishes tower ; Claim leads to claim, and power advances power J 'Till conquest unresisted ceased to please, And rights submitted, left him none to seize. The last line it is hardly fair to apply to Carr. Unlike his successor, Buckingham, we are told that he did not actually expel those who were in office, but had the decency to wait for the common course of events, before he conferred their places upon his own creatures. In 1612 he was created Lord Carr, of Bransprath, and Viscount Rochester, and advanced to be Lord High Treasurer of Scotland. Shortly afterwards he was made a Knight of the Garter. In 1614 he was created Earl of * Wilson, p, 55 ; Weldon, p. 58. t Ibid., p. 58. EARL OF SOMERSET. 201 Somerset, and appointed Lord Chamberlain of the Household : at the death of Salisbury he became first minister. Somerset has at least the negative merit of being fully aware of his own inexperience and incapacity. He selected for his adviser Sir Thomas Overbury, the famous courtier and poet, a man of a strong mind and con- siderable genius, but irascible in his nature, and rendered apparently insolent by success.* They had long lived on terms of affection with each other. " Such," we are told, " was the warmth of their friendship, that they were in- separable. Carr could enter into no scheme, nor pursue any measure, without the advice and concurrence of Overbury, nor could Overbury enjoy any felicity but in the company of him he loved ; their friendship was the subject of Court conversation, and their genius seemed so much alike, that it was reasonable to suppose no breach could ever be produced between them." f As long as Overbury continued in favour, and his advice was followed, the King's affairs were not ill-managed, and the favourite remained tolerably free from obloquy. Indeed, the incessant calls of pleasure left Somerset but little leisure for the transaction of state affairs. The conduct of the favourite at this period was certainly discreet and even praiseworthy. He agreeably disappointed the English courtiers by exhibiting no par- tiality for his Scotch connections. We are told that he had but one friend and one servant of that nation. His manners also were invariably flattering and conci- * His once popular poem, "The Wife," passed through no fewer than sixteen editions within forty years after his death, and may still be read, or rather studied, with pleasure. His charming picture of a virtuous wife must have been little gratifying to the profligate lady of Somerset's subsequent choice. t Gibber's Lives of the Poete, vol. i., p. 113. 202 EGBERT CARE, Hating. He was civil to the scholar and liberal to the soldier.* Such a line of conduct naturally rendered him popular, for mankind are easily enslaved by the attentions of the great. Had Somerset been half as prudent in the choice of his mistress, as he had been in the selection of his friend, his lot would have been happier, and his name brighter with posterity. The story of his intrigue, and subse- quent marriage, with the beautiful Countess of Essex, is as curious as the particulars were discreditable to both parties. On the 5th of January, 1606, were married Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, the son of Elizabeth's favourite, and Frances Howard, daughter of Thomas, Earl of Suffolk ; a bridegroom of fourteen to a bride of thirteen. In a letter of the period we have a curious account of the nuptial rejoicings on the occasion. " The bridegroom," says the writer, " carried himself as gravely and gracefully as if he were of his father's age. He had greater gifts given him than my Lord of Montgomery had, his plate being valued at 3000Z., his jewels, money, and other gifts at 1000Z. more. But to return to the Mask. Both Inigo, Ben, and the actors, men and women, did their parts with great commendation. The conceit or soul of the Mask, was Hymen bringing in a "bride, and Juno Pronuba's priest, a bridegroom, pro- claiming that those two should be sacrificed to nuptial union ; and here the poet made an apostrophe to the union of the kingdoms ; but before the sacrifice could be performed, Ben Jonson turned the globe of the earth, standing behind the altar, and within the concave sat the eight men maskers, representing the four Humours and the four Affections, who leaped forth and disturbed the sacrifice to union. But amidst their fury, Eeason, that * Lloyd's State Worthies, vol. ii., p. 30. EAL OF SOMERSET. 203 sat above them all, crowned with burning tapers, came down and silenced them. These eight, together with Reason, their moderator, mounted above their heads, sat somewhat like the ladies in the scallop-shell, the last year. About the globe of earth, hovered a middle region of clouds, in the centre of which stood a grand concert of musicians, and upon the canton, or horns, sat the ladies, four at one corner and four at another, who descended upon the stage, downright perpendicular fashion, like a bucket into a well, but came gently slipping down. These eight, after the sacrifice was ended, repre- sented the eight nuptial powers of Juno Pronuba, who came down to confirm the union. The men were clad in crimson and the women in white ; they had every one a white plume of the richest herns' feathers, and were so rich in jewels upon their heads, as was most glorious. I think they hired and borrowed all the principal jewels and ropes of pearl, both in court and city. The Spanish Ambassador seemed but poor to the meanest of them. They danced all variety of dances, both severally and promiscue ; and then the women took in men, as, namely, the Prince, who danced with as great perfection, and as settled a majesty, as could be devised ; the Spanish Ambassador, the Archduke's Ambassador, the Duke, &c. And the men, gleaned of the Queen, the bride, and the greatest of the ladies." * After the ceremony it was thought proper to separate the youthful pair till they had arrived at riper years. The young Earl was sent on his travels, while the bride remained at court with her mother, a lady whose indifferent morals rendered her totally unfit for such a charge. After an absence of nearly four years, Essex * Mr. Pory to Sir R. Cotton, Jan. 1606. Bishop Goodman' t Memoirs, vol. ii., p. 125. 204 EOBEET CAER, returned to England, full of natural eagerness to behold the young and beautiful creature whom he was to claim as his wife. Beautiful indeed she was, but so far was she from sharing his anxiety, that she had engaged her affections to another, and regarded with the utmost horror the prospect of passing her days with the homely Essex. Among her admirers she reckoned the favourite, Somerset, and Henry, the heir to the throne. It is said that the Prince had been for sometime extremely jealous of the favours which his father heaped upon his pampered minion, and his antipathy was not likely to be diminished, when, on their becoming candidates for the favours of the same lady, his rival proved successful.* Essex, on his part, discovering that his person and matrimonial claims were treated with disdain, applied to the father of his bride to prevail on her to live with him. The con- sequence was, that she was obliged to accompany her husband into the country, where the manner in which she exhibited her disgust must have been far from flattering to her unhappy Lord. Somerset, it seems, had intimated to her that she would forfeit his affections, should she ever receive Essex as a husband. The atrocity of her conduct to her husband is fully detailed by Arthur Wilson, and affords sufficient evidence of the strength of her passion and the infamy of her character. That writer's evidence, moreover, is supported by the extraordinary proofs and circumstances which were after- wards adduced at her trial.f The object of the young Countess was to procure a divorce, in order that she might unite herself to the idol of her affections. In 1613, her uncle, the Earl of North- ampton, applied to the King for this purpose, alleging a natural infirmity on the part of Essex. The cause was * "Wilson, p. 55, 56. t State Trials, vol. i. EARL OF SOMERSET. 205 heard, and having "been decided in the lady's favour, Somerset lost no time in making her his bride. It was while these matters were in the course of agitation, that Overbury solemnly and affectionately warned his friend against the ruinous course which he was so blindly pur- suing. He represented the impolicy of the action, the ridicule of the world, and that when he had made her his wife the shame which was attached to her character would reflect upon himself. He spoke of the criminal intercourse which had already taken place between them, and added, that as she had already deserted a husband for his sake, she might hereafter be induced to do so again. He even went so far as to designate both her and her mother by the most opprobrious names,* adding that he would separate himself for ever from Somerset and his interests, should he disgrace their friendship by prosecuting so shameful an affair. Overbury was well qualified to give his advice on the occasion. He had a perfect knowledge of the lady's character, and had been employed throughout the intrigue ; indeed, he had composed many exquisite letters and love-poems for Somerset, which had gone far in raising that excess of passion which afterwards terminated in murder and disgrace. Somerset was weak enough to repeat to his paramour the conversation which had taken place. Her anger exceeded all bounds, and the unhappy Overbury was already devoted to destruction. No sooner therefore had her marriage with Somerset taken place, than she with little difficulty induced her infatuated husband to sacrifice his former friend. It may be remarked, that at this period of our history, it was rendered almost compulsory to accept any office * \Veldon, p. 62 ; Coke, vol., I p. 68. 206 ROBERT CARR, offered by the Crown. By this means the grossest oppression was frequently inflicted under the mask of kindness, and many a dangerous subject got rid of under the semblance of an honourable appointment. For instance, in 1641, we find four obnoxious members of Parliament joined in a commission, and banished to Ireland, on the plea of important business; and two years afterwards a citizen of London, who had refused to contribute to a benevolence, hurried off, ostensibly with the charge of letters, to the same country : this person was glad to make his peace for a hundred pounds.* Under similar circumstances an embassy to Eussia was offered to the devoted Overbury. Somerset, who still maintained the appearance of friendship, advised him by all means to decline the honour, promising at the same time to justify his refusal to the King. Overbury was caught in the snare, and humbly petitioned his Majesty to select another representative. This step Somerset secretly represented to the King as an act of gross dis- obedience and contempt of the royal authority : and Overbury was in consequence committed to the Tower, with directions to be more closely confined than was usual with prisoners of State. f Not only were his * See Hume, vol, vi., pp. 59, 80. f- This was not the first time that Overbury had paid a visit to the Tower. The circumstances, of his previous commitment are related by Bishop Goodman : "The Queen," he says, "was looking out of her window into the garden, where Somerset and Overbnry were walking ; and when the Queen saw them, she said, ' There goes Somerset and his governor,' and a little after Overbury did laugh. The Queen, con- ceiving that he had overheard her, thought that they had laughed at her, whereupon she complained, and Overbury was committed. But when it did appear unto the Queen that they did not hear her, and that their laughter did proceed from a jest which the King was pleased to use that day at dinner, then the Queen was well satisfied, and he was released." It is evident, however, that Anne of Denmark had conceived a particular EAEL OF SOMERSET. 207 friends denied admittance to him, but he was even refused the attendance of one of his own servants.* Some days previously, Somerset had procured the ap- pointment of one of his own creatures, Sir Jervis Elways, to be Lieutenant of the Tower ; and now, leaguing with his abandoned wife and her uncle the Earl of North- ampton, he entered into the atrocious project of poison- ing his former friend. The principal agents in this horrible transaction were Sir Thomas Monson and a man of the name of "Weston, whom the former had recom- mended to Sir Jervis Elways. The necessary poisons were provided by the infamous Anne Turner, who was the widow of a physician, and the conlidante of Lady Essex in her amour with Somerset. These poisons were inserted from time to time by "Weston, in the several dishes conveyed to Overbury in the Tower ; many of them, with an affectation of kindness and sympathy, being supplied from Somerset's own table. aversion towards Overbury's person. To the Earl of Salisbury sli writes : MY LORD, The King hath told me that he will advise with you and some other four or five of the Council of that fellow. I can say no more, either to make you understand the matter or my mind, than I said the other day. Only I recommend to your care how public the matter is now, both in court and city, and how far I have reason in that respect. I refer the rest to this bearer, and myself to your love. ANNA R. Bishop Goodman's Memoirs, vol. ii., p. 145. Other particulars might be inserted, which denote antipathy on the one side, and insolence on the other. * Mr. John Chamberlain, on the 6th of May, 1*13, thus writes to Sir R. Win wood : "As I was closing this letter, I understand that Sir Robert Killigrew was yesterday committed to the Fleet, from the Council Table, for having some little speech with Sir Thomas Overbury, who called to him as he passed by his window, as he came from visiting Sir W. Raleigh." Wimcood's Memorial*, vol. iii., p. 455. 208 EGBERT CARR, Altliougli Elways, the Lieutenant of the Tower, was afterwards executed for his share in this fearful crime, there is reason to believe that, at this period at least, he had not been initiated into the secret. Entertaining, it seems, a suspicion of foul play, he sent for Weston into his apartment, and so wrought either upon his fears or his conscience, as to induce him to betray his employers, and to deliver up the poisonous drugs with which they supplied him.* The health of Overbury had indeed declined, but as there appeared no probability of his dissolution, a suspi- cion was excited in the mind of his employers that "Weston was playing a double part. Accordingly the Countess sent for him ; reviled him for his treachery ; and joining one Franklin with him in the horrid work, used such arguments as induced him to enter more heartily on his task. On this occasion also, the Lieutenant is said to have been kept in the dark. How- ever, as he must have been well aware of his prisoner's increasing sickness, as well as of "Weston's dangerous character, and his former murderous intentions, it seems somewhat difficult to credit his innocence. The two ruffians cautiously administered their deadly mixtures; and at last, finding him still hold out, applied a poison of a much stronger character, which eventually car- ried him off. According to other accounts, perceiving an eruption breaking out over his body, and fearing lest the symptoms might lead to detection, they re- leased him from his agonies by smothering him in his * There is a somewhat different account of this interview in the "Five Years of King James," supposed to have been written by Lord Brooke. According to this authority, Sir Jervis Elways was eventually wrought upon by the arguments and entreaties of Northampton to be an active agent in Overbury's murder. HarL Misc. vol. v., p. 376. EARL OF SOMERSET. 209 "bed.* His interment was indecently hurried ; it being given out that he died of a loathsome disease, the nature of which rendered it necessary to commit his body immediately to the grave.f Prom the time of Overbury's death, Somerset became a changed man. The beauty of person, the lightness of heart, and the conciliating civility, which had formerly distinguished him, were now no longer discoverable. Amidst the flattery and splendour that surrounded him, he appeared a sullen and melancholy man. The still small voice ot conscience was ever whispering in his ear ; and though possessed of the wife of his choice, though the sole favourite of his Sovereign, and the master of un- bounded wealth, the envied Somerset became a burden to himself, and an object of dislike to the master he no longer was able to amuse. All that James required was a decent excuse for deserting and destroying the man whom he had once loved. It was not long before the appearance of George Tilliers at Court, in 1614, proved a fatal blow to the fortunes of Somerset. His enemies, among the foremost of whom was the Queen herself, watched with extreme anxiety the rapid transfer of the royal affections : they saw that Somerset's reign was at an end, and began already to speculate on the character and disposition of his successor. James, naturally desirous of preserving some appearance of consistency, attempted the imprac- ticable task of placing his old and new favourite upon a friendly footing. Sir Humphry May, a follower of Somerset, was entrusted by James with the conduct of this delicate negotiation. The King could not have * Spotswood, p. 524 ; Journal of Sir Symonds D'Ewes, pp. 8, 13 ; Weldon, pp. 65 70 ; Wilson, in Kennett, vol. iL, p. 694. f Wilson, in Kennett, vol. ii., p. 694. VOL. i. f 210 ROBERT CARR, fixed on a more proper person. A splendid act of friend- ship and generosity which he afterwards performed for Sir Thomas Monson, when a prisoner and in distress, is a sufficient guarantee for his kindness of heart, and his qualifications as a peace-maker.* May, having introduced himself into Somerset's presence, commenced by inform- ing him that his rival was about to visit him with proffers of service and friendship. He used what arguments he could think of to reconcile the proud Earl, adding, " Your Lordship, though not the sole favourite, will still be a great man." As Somerset exhibited extreme re- pugnance to this singular arrangement, May unhesi- tatingly told him that he made the overture by the King's express command. Somerset was silent, and shortly afterwards Villiers himself entered. A meeting between two such men, and under such circumstances, must indeed have been remarkable. Villiers, far different from the proud Buckingham of after life, was humility itself: he came, he said, to be Somerset's creature and his dependant, and to gain preferment at court under his auspices ; adding that he should always find him a faithful and obedient servant. The Earl's reply was brief and startling: " Sir," he said, "I require none of your services, and I shall give you none of my favour : " adding, in the most undisguised manner, that he would ruin him if it ever lay in his power, f Somerset, now fully aware of his declining favour, took his measures accordingly. Making the best use of his remaining influence with the King, he induced James to grant him a full and ample pardon for any and all offences which he might heretofore have committed. J It is curious that the most important clause in this disgrace- ful instrument was borrowed from a similar indulgence * See "Weldon, p. 105. t Weldon, p. 89. J Wilson, p. SI. EARL OF SOMERSET. 211 granted by the Pope to Cardinal Wolsey.* The pardon Avas signed by James without hesitation ; but the Queen, who detested Somerset, had sufficient influence to prevent its passing the Great Seal until the return of the King, \vho was then absent in the "West.f In the mean time, an apothecary's boy, who had been employed in composing the poisons administered to Overbury, happened to fall sick at Flushing, and his conscience beginning to accuse him, he revealed all the circumstances within his knowledge. James was holding his court at Royston when Sir Kalph Winwood was des- patched to him, with the tale of his favourite's guilt. He instantly sent a messenger to the Lord Chief Justice, Sir Edward Coke, directing him to take measures for arrest- ing the Earl, who was that very day to set out from London to join the royal party. "When the officer of justice returned to Royston, he found James with his arms round the neck of Somerset, who had arrived in the mean time, affecting to inquire anxiously, as he pressed him to his heart, how long it would be before he saw him again. Somerset was indignant at the idea of a peer being arrested in the presence of his sovereign : " Nay, man," said James, "if Coke sends for me, I must go." As soon as the Earl had departed, " Now the devil go with thee," said the King, " for I will never see thy face any more." + That very morning Somerset had con- versed with Sir Henry "Wotton respecting the prosperity of his affairs, and the brilliancy of his worldly prospects : before night he was in the Tower. The King's hypocrisy and dissimulation are apparent throughout the whole of this transaction. Sir Edward Coke arriving the same day at Eoyston, James expressed the strongest determination to discover and punish tho * Eapin, vol. i., p. 188. t Wilson, p. 81. $ Coke, p. 83. p 2 212 EGBERT CAKE, crime, without any respect of persons : lie added, that if he pardoned any one of them, he hoped God's curse might light on him and liis posterity. How far he respected this solemn imprecation is well known: nor is it the only instance in which he provoked the wrath of Heaven by his irreverent imprecations. On one occasion, when a report was alluded to in the Star-chamber, that he was about to grant some immunities to the Papists, he pro- tested to the Lords, " that he would spend the last drop of his blood before he would do so ;" and prayed that, before any of his issue should maintain any other religion than that which they truly professed, God would take them out of the world.* Somerset, on his arrival in London, was committed to the Tower, the Countess having been arrested and sent to the same prison in the mean time. Their accomplices in the murder, Sir Jervis Elways, Weston, Franklin, and Mrs. Turner, were speedily condemned and executed. Sir Thomas Monson escaped punishment under circum- stances which will be presently mentioned. Another of the party, Simon Mason, a servant of Monson' s, was also brought into court, on the charge of having conveyed a poisoned tart to Overbury. The judge said to him, " Simon, you had a hand in this business ? " " Js"o, my Lord," was the ready answer, " I had only a finger in it, which nearly cost me my life." In his way to the Tower, he had licked some of the sirup of the tart from his fingers, a circumstance which eventually saved him from hanging : it was argued, that he would scarcely have tasted what he knew to be poisoned.f In the mean time, Somerset remained in the Tower, his enemies satisfying themselves of his guilt and con- demnation long before they had been decided by the law. * Harris's Lives, vol. i., p. 89. t Weldon, p. 98. EARL OF SOMERSET. 213 By a letter, dated 19th November, 1G15, about six months previous to his trial, a return was ordered to be made of his effects, with a view probably to their sub- sequent distribution among the hungry crew, who were anxiously awaiting the final catastrophe. A selection from the inventory has been recently published among the Loseley MSS. and evinces, by the splendour of the articles, what immense sums must have been lavished on this unworthy favourite. Whether from constitutional indifference, or a confidence in the King's remaining affection, it is certain that Somerset endured with becom- ing dignity the strange vicissitude in his fortunes. " The Earl," writes a contemporary, " seems little to care for this aspersion, and shows no manner of change in his countenance ; which is strange, seeing that by manifest proofs it is otherwise, which was delivered in public courts : but he knoweth not what is said or done abroad, being a close prisoner." * The murder of Overbury has generally been traced to the sole circumstance of his having impugned the virtue of Lady Somerset. Admitting, however, that female indignation could proceed to such lengths as murder, is it probable that Somerset would have entered so warmly into his wife's feelings, as to sacrifice for some intempe- rate expressions a once-loved friend, more especially when those very expressions originated solely in a regard for himself? A momentary and violent irritation may perhaps be allowed as natural ; but would he have pursued his victim to the grave by a slow and merciless process of vengeance, scarcely equalled in the annals of crime ? Moreover, is it probable, is it indeed possible, that * Letters from Sir J. Throckmorton to Mr. William Trumbull. Eiahop Goodman's Memoirs, vol. ii., p. 154. 214 EGBERT CARE, Northampton, whose share in this detestable trans- action is undoubted, and who was one of the coldest and most calculating men of his time, should have been influenced in the same unaccountable manner by his profligate niece ? In a word, will common sense allow us to suppose, that such a man would have mixed himself up in a fearful crime, and have risked life, fortune, and reputation, merely because some un- guarded words had been uttered, which he well knew to be true ? To what then, will naturally be asked, did Overbury owe his melancholy end? This needs an explanation which it is not so easy to afford, and the most that can be adduced, are some obscure and unsatisfactory conjectures. Certain it is, that Overbury was the depository of some important secrets, the discovery of which might have been fatal to the favourite, and that he was even foolish enough to threaten Somerset with a disclosure.* Many a dark rumour has floated down to us respecting the mysterious death of Prince Henry, in which the names of Somerset, Northampton, and Overbury are not omitted. Undoubt- edly, it was of the most vital importance, both to Somerset and Northampton, that the prince should not survive his father. Preferment was sure to cease, and ruin certain to follow. The abhorrence with which Henry regarded the Suffolk and Northampton branches of the Howards, was scarcely exceeded even by his detestation of Somerset. Besides, the mere fact of these two noblemen having been capable of committing one murder, renders it less unlikely that they would have been guilty of the other. At all events, it appears far more probable that they put Overbury out of the way, to ensure their own safety, * Winwood's Memorials, vol. iii., p. 478. EARL OF SOMERSET. 215 than to avenge themselves on the detractor of a wife or a niece. The conduct, too, of the Countess appears less infamous, if -we can suppose that, to the indignation of her sex, she added a redeeming anxiety to rescue her husband from approaching ruin. "With regard to the general circumstances which threw suspicion over the death of Henry, they have already been introduced in the memoir of that lamented young prince. Unfortunately it is impossible to investigate this embar- rassing affair, without indirectly implicating the King himself. The late Charles James Fox entertained a project of inquiring into the circumstances of Somerset's crime : in a letter to Lord Lauderdale, he writes," I recollect that the impression upon my mind was, that there was more reason than is generally allowed for sus- pecting that Prince Henry was poisoned by Somerset, and that the King knew of it after the fact." * This impression probably originated in Somerset's arrogance previous to his trial, as well as in the King's undisguised fear lest the Earl should enter into some unpleasant details when brought before his judges. Certain it is that Somerset had a secret in his keeping, which apparently saved his own life, and which kept James in an unpleasant state of trepidation. Whether, however, it was connected with the death of the Prince ; whether, as Harris supposes, it was " the revealing the vices to which James seems to have been addicted ;" whether, as some have suggested, it was a design upon the Queen ; or, as others have conjectured, a plot to take away the life of the Earl of Essex,f to enable his Countess to marry Somerset, will probably ever remain a secret. There is a letter extant, addressed by Somerset to the * Life of James II., Preface, p. 49. f See Gentleman's Magazine, vol. xiii., pp. 123, 124, New Series. 216 ROBERT CARR, King, in which lie professes to pray for mercy ; * but it conveys less of penitence than of expostulation and defiance. Somerset, in fact, throughout affected to talk as if the King dared not sentence him to death ; and it is even said, that he sent a message to James by the Lieutenant of the Tower, in which he threatened to reveal their secret should his pardon not be granted.f Hume, in his ingenious palliation of the King's conduct, speaks confidently of "his great remains of tenderness for Somerset." This remark is so far from being borne out by facts, that James appears extremely anxious to get rid of his former favourite. Lord Bacon, who was then Attorney-General, and who must have been perfectly well aware of the King's feelings with respect to Somer- set, in preparing his Majesty with arguments as to the probable results of the approaching trial, thus writes on the subject . " The fourth case is that which I should be very sorry should happen, but it is a future contingent ; that is, if the peers should acquit him, and find him Not Guilty." In this case, Lord Bacon recommends that Somerset should be remanded a close prisoner to the Tower, " there being," he adds, " many high and heinous offences (though not capital) for which he may be ques- tioned in the Star Chamber." If these " great remains of tenderness" really existed, is it likely that the politic Bacon would have expressed his hope of seeing Somerset hanged, and even recommended another and apparently unnecessary persecution in the event of his being acquitted ? According to "Weldon, the criminal himself went so far, the day before the trial, as to express his determina- * State Trials, vol.i. t Kennett, vol. ii., p. 699 ; State Trials, voL i. J Cabala, p. 54. EARL OP SOMERSET. 217 tion not to appear in court, unless they dragged him there by force, and in his bed ; adding, " that the King durst not bring him to trial." This menace, and the fear of disclosure, had such an effect with James, that he sent privately to Somerset, assuring him that if he behaved quietly and without insolence at his examination, his life should be spared. This promise, however, was protracted to the last moment, the King being desirous of ascer- taining privately the mode of defence which it was Somerset's intention to adopt at the trial. Not only were examining commissioners appointed, who constantly interrogated the prisoner, but James was mean enough, under the mask of affection, to employ clandestinely other individuals, who used their utmost endeavours to entice Somerset to a confession of his plans. Had they suc- ceeded, Somerset, in all probability, would have died on the gallows : he had, however, either received a hint on the subject, or was cunning enough to penetrate their design. So anxious was James to discover his intended plan of defence, that he employed Lord Bacon to antici- pate every possible line of conduct which the criminal might adopt. Bacon writes to Sir George Villiers: " I have received my letter from his Majesty with his marginal notes, which shall be my directions, being glad to perceive I understand his Majesty so well. That same little charm, which may be secretly infused into Somer- set's ear some few hours before his trial, was excellently well thought of by his Majesty, and I do approve it, both in matter and time ; only, if it seem good to his Majesty, I would wish it a little enlarged : for, if it be no more than to spare his blood, he hath a kind of proud humour which may overwork the medicine. Therefore, I could wish it were made a little stronger, by giving him some hope that his Majesty will be good to his lady and child ; 218 ROBERT CARR, and that time (when justice, and his Majesty's honour, is once saved, and satisfied) may produce further proof of Ms Majesty's compassion." * The King's next manoeuvre "was to endeavour to entice Somerset to a confession, asserting that it would afford him. a more favourable opportunity of exercising the royal prerogative of mercy : Somerset, however, was too guarded to be caught in the snare. The examining com- missioners, who were evidently fully aware of the King's anxiety on this point, thus report to his Majesty: "Not to trouble your Majesty with circumstances of his answers, the sequel was no other, but that we found him still, not to come any degree further on to confess ; only his behaviour was very sober, and modest, and mild, (differing apparently from other times,) but yet, as it seemed, resolved to expect his trial." The commissioners afterwards proceed : " "We have done our best endea- vours to perform your Majesty's commission both in matter and manner, for the examination of my Lord of Somerset, "wherein that which passed (for the general) was to this effect, that he was to know his own case, for that his day of trial could not be far off ; but that this day's work was that which would conduce to your Majesty's justice little or nothing, but to your mercy much, if he did lay hold upon it, and therefore might do him good, but could do him no hurt ; for as to your justice, there had been taken great and grave opinion, not only of such judges as he may think violent, but of the saddest and most temperate in the kingdom, who ought to understand the state of the proofs, that the evidence was full to convict him, so as there needed neither confession, nor supply of examination. But for your Majesty's mercy, (although he were not to expect * Cabala, p. 36. EAUL OT 1 SOMEKSET. 219 we should make any promise,) we did assure him that your Majesty was compassionate of him, if he gave you some ground whereon to work ; that as long as he stood upon his innocency and trial, your Majesty was tied in honour to proceed according to justice, and that he little understood (being a close prisoner) how much the ex- pectation of the world, besides your love to justice itself, engaged your Majesty, whatsoever your inclination were; but nevertheless, that a frank and clear confession might open the gate of mercy, and help to satisfy the point of honour."* But that which has tended to throw a great additional light on these mysterious circumstances, is the existence of some remarkably curious letters, which have recently been published in a collection of the Loseley MSS. The editor informs us that they were discovered carefully preserved in an envelope, on which, in a hand-writing of the period, was a long note, part of which is as follows : " These four letters were all of King James his own hand wryghtinge, sent to Sir George More, Liftenuant of the Tower (being put in to that place by his own apoyntment, without the privitie of any man) concerning my Lorde of Somorsett, whoe beinge in the Tower, and heringe that he should come to his arrayngment, began to speak biff wordes touching on the King's reputation and honour. The King, therefore, desired, as mutch as he could, to make him confes the poysoninge of Sir Thomas Overberry, and so not to his arrayngment, but to cast himself on his mercy. But being a courtiour, and beaten to these courses, woold not ; ffully imagininge that the King durst not, or woold not bryng him to his try all," &c. And in another part of the envelope were added these words, " Sir George More's my ffather in lawe's * Cabala, p. 38. 220 ROBERT CABR, legacie, who in his lifetime made mutcli account of these letters, being every word King James his own wryghtinge." Sir George More, besides having been honoured with these confidential letters, had certainly one personal communication, if not more, with the King ; and appears to have been not a little instrumental in dissuading Somerset from breaking out into invectives, or disclosing any unpleasant secrets, at his trial : it is asserted, more- over, that Sir George obtained 15001. a-year for his management of this mysterious affair.* What renders these letters principally curious, is the manner in which they confirm the supposition that Somerset was really the master of secrets, which it was most important to James should be kept at all hazards from the public. To pre- vent the possibility of such a catastrophe, it appears that James adopted the nicest precautions in his power. He appoints one of his own confidants to be Somerset's keeper ; he will not even employ a secretary in the corre- spondence which takes place between the Lieutenant and himself; he first endeavours to inveigle Somerset into a confession, and to induce him, by throwing himself on the royal mercy, to avoid a trial : and then, finding this manoeuvre fail, he next attempts to persuade the world that the Earl is a lunatic. The first two letters, above alluded to, have reference principally to the King's most ardent wish, that Somerset should anticipate his trial by an admission of his offence. They evince also his great anxiety that Sir George should preserve their correspond- ence a profound secret. " Without the knowledge of any," writes James, " I have put you in that place of trust which you now possess, so must I now use your trust and secrecy in a thing greatly concerning my honour * Weldon, pp. 107, 103. EARL OF SOMERSET. 221 and service." And in the next letter he adds, " You must not let him know that I have written unto you, but only that I sent you private word to deliver him this message : Let none living know of this." The two last and most remarkable letters are as follows : " GOODE SIE GEOKOE, " I am extremely sorry that your unfortunate prisoner turns all the great care I have for him, not only against himself, lut against me also, as far as he can. I cannot blame you, that you cannot conjecture ivhat this may be, for God knows it is only a trikke of his idle braine, hoping thairby to shift his tryall ; but is easie to be seen that he wolde threattin me with laying an aspersion upon me of being in some sort accessorie to his crime, I can do no more (since God so abstracts his grace from him), than repeat the substance of that letter which Lord Haye sent you yesternighte, which is this : if he wolde write or send me any message concerning this poisoning, it needs not be private ; if it be of any other busieness, that which I can not now with honoure receive privatly, I may do it after his tryall, and serve the turne as well : for except either his tryall or confession praecede, I cannot have a private message from him, without laying an aspersion on myselfe of being an accessorie to his cryme, and I praye you to urge him by reason, that I refuse him no favoure which I can graunte him, without taking upon me the suspicion of being guiltie of that cryrue whereof he is accused, and so farewell, "JAMES B." " GOOD SIB GEORGE, " For answer to your straunge newis, I am first to tell you, that I expecte the Lord Haye and Sir Eobert Carr have been with you before this tyme, which if thaye have not 222 EGBERT CARR, yett bene doe ye sende for them in haste that they maye first heare him, before ye saye anything unto him, and when that is done, if he shall still refuse to goe [to trial], ye must doe your office, except Tie le either appa- rently sick or distracted of Ms wittes, in any of which cacis ye may acquaint the Chancellaire with it, that he may adjorne the day till Mondaye nexte, betwene and which tyme, if his sicknesse or rnadnesse be counterfitted, it will manifestlie appeare. In the meane tyme, I doubte not but ye have acquainted the Chancellair with this strainge fitte of his, and if upon these occasions ye bring him a little laiter than the houre appointed, the Chan- cellaire may in the meantime protracte the tyme the best he maye, whom I praye you to acquainte like wayes with this my ansoure, as well as with the accident, if he have saide any thinge of moment to the Lorde Haye, I ex- pecte to hear of it with all speede ; if other wayes, lett me not be troubled with it till the tryall be past. Pairwell. JAMES E." Subscribed in another hand, "To o r trustie and weel belowed Sir George More, knight, o r leveten- ant of o r Towre of London."* It was very doubtful, before the trial, whether the Crown had sufficient evidence to ensure Somerset's con- viction; indeed he was merely found guilty on the ground of some expressions which were discovered in a letter of his to Northampton : and yet James would not only force him to confess a crime, of which he might possibly have been guiltless, but proceeds to such lengths to obtain this object, as to endeavour to induce Sir George More to be guilty of something very like a falsehood on the occa- * Loseley, MSS., p. 400. EARL OF SOMERSET. 223 sion. In one of his letters, the King writes to the Lieutenant, "Ye will doe well of yourselfe to caste out unto him, that ye feare his wyfe sliall pleade iceaMie for his innocence ; and that ye finde the commissioners have, ye know not how, some secreate assurance that in the ende she li'Ul confesse of him; but this must onlie be as from yourselfe:" surely this has every appearance of invention. It may be remarked that Lord Bacon, in embracing the different accidents which might occur at the trial, thus writes to the King : " The second case is, if that fall out, (which is likest as things stand, and as we expect), which is that the lady confess, and that Somerset plead not guilty, and be found guilty."* Lord Bacon was right in both conjectures : the Countess, however, though she confessed her own crime, in no way implicated her husband. Another circumstance, which throws suspicion on James, was the liberation of Sir Thomas Monson, who was to have been tried as an accomplice in Overbury's murder, but escaped after his arraignment. Coke, the Lord Chief Justice, was rash enough to observe, " That more would come out at his trial than the death of a private individual." He is even said to have exclaimed on the Bench, " God knows what became of that sweet babe Prince Henry, but I know somewhat."f Certain it is that James took fright ; that Monson obtained his liberty, and that Coke was disgraced. J Somerset was brought to trial in "Westminster Hall, May 25th, 1616. During the whole of the day James is described as being in a painful state of agitation, " sending to every boat he perceived lauding at White- hall, and cursing all that came without tidings." "When word was at length brought him that the Earl was * Cabala, p. 54. t Weldon, p. 114. t Wilson, p. 89. 224 EGBERT CARE, condemned, his agitation ceased. " This," Weldon says, "he had from Sir George More's own mouth." Somerset is described as being dressed on the occasion in " a plain black satin suit, his hair curled, his face pale, his beard long, and his eyes sunk in his head." He was also decorated with the George and Garter.* "Weldou, on doubtful authority, asserts, that two persons were placed behind him at his trial, whose instructions were to throw a cloak over his face, and carry him off, should he exhibit the slightest intention of implicating the King. He pleaded innocent ; but the peers finding him "guilty," he was sentenced to be carried to the Tower, and from thence to the place of execution, to be hanged like a common criminal.f Somerset, with his Countess, received at different periods several reprieves. By an order in council, dated 18th January, 1622, they were finally liberated from con- finement, though their lives were merely respited at the King's pleasure : it was also stipulated that they should reside in the country ; one of Lord "Wallingford's two seats (Grays and Caversham) being allowed them for choice. The order for their release is as follows : " Anno Dom. 1621. An. Eeg. Jac. 19. An order of the Privy Council, "Whitehall, 18th January, 1622. Present. LOBD KEEPEB, LOED DIGBT, LOED TEEASUEEB, LOED BEOOK, LOED PBESIDENT, ME. TEEASUEEB, L. M. HAMILTON, ME. SEC. CALTEET, EABL MAESHALL, ME. CHANG. EXCHEQ. L. Vise. FALKLAND, MASTEB or THE EOLLS. * State Trials ; Camden's Annals in Kennett, vol. iL, p. 6-15. t State Trials, vol. L EATIL OF SOMEHSET. 225 " Whereas, his Majesty is graciously pleased to enlarge and set at liberty the Earl of Somerset and his Lady, now prisoners in the Tower of London ; and that, never- theless, it is thought fit that both the said Earl and his Lady be confined to some convenient place : It is therefore, according to his Majesty's gracious pleasure and command, ordered, that the Earl of Somerset and his Lady do repair either to Grays or Cowsham [Caver- sham], the Lord "Waliingford's houses in the county of Oxon, and remain confined to one or either of the said houses, and within three miles' compass of the same, until further order be given by his Majesty."* At last, in 1G24, about four months previous to the King's death, notwithstanding his Majesty's former solemn asseveration, the noble criminals received a full pardon for their crime. In the reign of Charles the First, Somerset petitioned, though unsuccessfully, for the restoration of his estates.f The guilty pair resided together in a private and almost obscure condition. Their former passionate love was converted into abhorrence ; and though inmates of the same house, they lived entirely separate and estranged. James, whether from pity or some other cause, allowed his former favourite 4000Z. a-year. Somerset was com- pelled, however, till he received his pardon, to hold the rents, which produced this income, in his servant's name ; the law excluding him, as a condemned person, from being the ostensible possessor.^ Somerset is said to have been assured by a fortune- teller, that if he should ever see the King's face again, he would certainly be reinstated in his former greatness. * Hearne's preface to Robert of Gloucester's Chronicle, t State Trials, vol. i. ; "Wilson in Kennett, vol ii., p. 699. J Weldon, p. 111. Ibid. VOL. I. Q 226 ROBERT CAttR, According to Arthur Wilson, James, in the latter part of his life, occasionally paid him a visit in his retreat. Bishop Burnet even informs us, that when the King grew weary of Buckingham's insolence and contemptuous manner, he had serious intentions of supplying his place with his old favourite. He adds, that their first meeting was in the gardens at Theobalds, where the King embraced Somerset tenderly, and shed many tears. " Somerset," adds Burnet, " told this to some from -whom I had it." It is remarkable that the great and virtuous Lord Russell was the grandson of Somerset and his abandoned Countess. The result of their ill-timed union was an only daughter, Anne, who became the "wife of William Russell, Earl of Bedford, created a Duke in 1694. There is something interesting in her history. The union took place in the lifetime of the old Earl of Bedford, who had been in the habit of saying to his son, " Marry whom you will but a daughter of Somerset." Unfortunately, how- ever, they met at court, and the son falling passionately in love with her, expressed his determination never to marry another. The Earl professed the greatest abhor- rence at the idea of the match, and probably would never have relented but for the interference of Charles the First in favour of the lovers. The King's share in over- coming his prejudices is alluded to in a letter of the period. Mr. Garrard writes to the Earl of Strafford, 5th April, 1636. " The King lately sent the Duke of Lennox to my Lord of Bedford, to move him to give way to the marriage between my Lord Russell and the Lady Ann Carr, daughter to the Earl of Somerset, which he should take well at his hands. The love between them hath been long taken notice of, though discreetly and closely carried ; for his father gave him, as I take it, leave EARL OF SOMERSET. and liberty to choose in any family but in that : but marriages are made in Heaven." * The old Earl at length gave a reluctant consent ; and in 1637 they were married. He had no reason to regret his having relented. Some time afterwards he was seized with the small-pox ; and though deserted by his own children, the lady Anne remained with him and nursed him like a daughter. She caught the disorder and lost her beauty. It is said, that after she grew up, she dis- covered the account of her parents' infamy in a book ; but that she was happily so ignorant of the facts, as to look upon them as mere calumnies.f She died in 1684, aged about 63. This account of his daughter enables us to relate a redeeming trait in the character of Somerset. Among other expedients which had been adopted by the old Lord Bedford to prevent his son's marriage, he had insisted on the sum of twelve thousand pounds being deposited as the marriage portion of Anne Carr. It was an immense sum to Somerset, who possessed little except his residence at Chiswick. However, he sold house, plate, and jewels, in order to make up the amount. "Since her affections are settled," he said, "I would ruin myself rather than make her unhappy." J Such an action goes far to redeem the name of Somerset from utter obloquy, and for the credit of human nature should not remain untold. The curse of Somerset was his choice of a wife. "We * Strafford Letters, vol. ii., p. 2. f" There is, however, another account, that when she met with the passage respecting the guilt of her parents, she fell down in a fit, and was discovered senseless with the book before her. There is a half- length picture of ber at Woburn, by Vandyke, in which she is painted, dressed in blue, drawing on her gloves. Pennant's Journey from Chester to London, p. 494. Brit. Biog., vol. iii., p, 634, Q 2 228 ROBERT CARR, EARL OF SOMERSET. are assured that by nature lie was of a " mild and affable disposition," and might have been a good man if he had not met with such a woman. "Wilson says of his person that he was " rather compact than tall ; his features and favour comely and handsome rather than beautiful ; the hair of his head flaxen ; that of his face tinctured with yellow of the Sycambrian colour." Weldon speaks of him as " handsome and well-bred ; " and even asserts that, previously to his elevation, he had passed his time in study, and in the society of eminent men. He must have been nearly sixty at the time of his death, * which took place in July, 1645. His remains were interred in the Parish Church of St. Paul's, Covent Garden. * His birth is commonly fixed in 1588, which would make him in his fifty-eighth year at the time of his decease, and only twenty-one at his first appearance at court. 229 FEANCES HOWARD, COUNTESS OF SOMERSET. Revolting Character of this Woman The Earl of Suffolk, her Father Her Beauty Her Marriage to the Earl of Essex Character of the Earl The Countess's lore for, and clandestine Meetings with, Somerset Her Expedients to procure a Divorce Her Agents, Mrs. Turner, and Dr. Form an, the Astrologer Death of Forman Trial and Execution of Mrs. Turner Sir Jervis Elways Trial for Divorce between the Earl and Countess of Essex Arguments for and against the Divorce by King James and the Archbishop of Canterbury Retirement of Essex to Chartley Marriage of the Divorced Countess to Somerset Her trial for the Murder of Overbury Her Appearance in Court Her Sentence Estrangement between her and her Husband Her Death. THEEE is something fearful and revolting in the history of this titled murderess. Man, from his sterner nature, and by a long communion with vice and crime, may at last become so callous to all better feelings, as to be induced to destroy the life of a fellow-creature. "Women also, among the low and uneducated, impelled by the pinchings of poverty or the rankling of revenge, may be hurried forward to commit violence against nature, and to heap infamy on their sex. But, that the young, the beautiful, and delicately-nurtured Frances Howard, to whom the world had been all smiles and success and kind- ness, should have set herself deliberately and mercilessly to take away the life of another, is a fact so unparalleled and unnatural, that were it not proved beyond all doubt, it could only be regarded as an improbable fiction. 230 FRANCES HOWARD, Frances Howard was the eldest daughter of Thomas Earl of Suffolk, a man of indifferent character and mode- rate talent. The Earl was Chancellor of the University of Cambridge. When the Orator of the University, at his inauguration, addressed him, as was usual, in a Latin speech, he honestly informed the Senate that he did not understand what was said ; however, he added, as he concluded they meant to welcome him, he begged to assure them in return, that he would advance their interests as much as lay in his power.* As his daughter, the Lady Frances, was only thirteen years of age at the time of her marriage with the Earl of Essex, in January, 1606, she must have been born about the year 1593. Sir Symonds d'Ewes was assured by one Captain Field, a " faithful votary of her father, the Earl of Suffolk, that he had known her from her childhood, and had ever observed her to be of the best nature and sweetest disposition of all Tier father's children, exceeding them all also in the delicacy and comeliness of her per- son." This individual attributed to the advice and influence of her uncle, Northampton, the wretched course of life into which she afterwards fell. There can be no doubt that she was eminently beautiful. Arthur Wilson, who speaks of her character with abhorrence, almost appears to relent, when he tells us of her sweet and bewitching countenance. It may be doubted whether it was in the nature of Essex to insure the happiness of any woman. He pos- sessed neither elegance of mind nor manners, and his features were as rough as his disposition ; a strange con- trast to his unfortunate father. It is remarkable that both his wives transferred then? affections to other men. His second kdy, Elizabeth, daughter of Sir William * Lloyd's State Worthies, vol. ii., p. 80. COUNTESS OF SOMERSET. 231 Pawlet, fixed her regards on a Mr. Udal or Uvedale, and Essex separated from her in consequence.* "We are informed in the Aulicus CoquinariaB, that he was always observed to avoid the company of ladies, and " so much neglect his own, that to wish a maid into a mischief was to commend her to my Lord of Essex." "Wilson was resi- dent in the house at the period of the Earl's marriage with Elizabeth Pawlet. " I must confess," he says, in his Memoir of himself, " she appeared to the eye a beauty, full of harmless sweetness ; and her conversation was affable and gentle." Wilson did not always find her so very affable ; for she afterwards refused to quit her chamber unless he was dismissed from her husband's establishment. He thus alludes to her frailty, " Within two years, this malicious piece of vanity, unworthy of so noble a husband was separated from him, to her eternal reproach and infamy." f Such a man as Essex was certainly ill-suited to the beautiful, flattered, and passionate Frances Howard. Previously, moreover, to the Earl's return from abroad, whither he had been sent after their youthful marriage, she had met, and fallen violently in love with the favourite Somerset. The guilty pair were accustomed to meet at the house of Mrs. Turner, either at Hammersmith or Paternoster Row. J Occasionally also their appointments were at the residence of one Coppinger, a person remark- able only for the indifference of his character. The exertions of the young Countess to procure a divorce from her husband were at least as unwearying, as her expedients were ingenious. The account which Arthur Wilson gives of this part of her history is too * A theme Oxonienses, vol. ii., p. 92. t Desid. Cttriosa, lib. xii., pp. 16, 17. Journal of Sir Symonds D'Ewes, p. 5. VTeldon, p. 60. 232 FRANCES HOWARD, singular to be altogether omitted. "The Countess of Essex," he says, " to strengthen her designs, finds out one of her own stamp, Mrs. Turner, a doctor of physic's widow, a woman whom prodigality and looseness had brought low ; yet her pride would make her fly any pitch, rather than fall into the jaws of want. These two consult together how they might stop the current of the Earl's affection towards his wife, and make a clear passage for the Viscount in his place. To effect which, one Dr. Eorman, a reputed conjurer (living at Lambeth), is found out : the women declare to him their grievances : he promises sudden help ; and to amuse them, frames many little pictures of brass and wax ; some like the Viscount and Countess, whom he must unite and strengthen; others like the Earl of Essex, whom he must debilitate and weaken ; and then with philtrous powders, and such drugs, he works upon their persons. And to practise what effects his arts would produce, Mrs. Turner, that loved Sir Arthur Manwaring (a gentleman then attend- ing the Prince), aud willing to keep him to her, gave him some of the powder, which wrought so violently with him, that through a storm of rain and thunder he rode fifteen miles one dark night to her house, scarce knowing where he was till he was there. Such is the devilish and mad rage of lust, heightened with art and fancy. "These things, matured and ripened by this juggler Eorman, gave them assurance of happy hopes. Her courtly incitements, that drew the Viscount to observe her, she imputed to the operation of those drugs he had tasted ; and that harshness and stubborn comportment she expressed to her husband, making him (weary of such entertainments) to absent himself, she thought pro- ceeded from the effects of those unknown potions and COUNTESS OF SOMERSET. 233 powders that were administered to him. So apt is the imagination to take impressions of those things we are willing to believe. " The good Earl, finding his wife nouseled in the Court, and seeing no possibility to reduce her to reason tiil she were estranged from the relish and taste of the delights she sucked in there, made his condition again known to her fother. The old man being troubled with his daughter's disobedience, embittered her being near him with wearisome and continual chidings, to wean her from the sweets she doted upon, and with much adoe forced her into the country. But how harsh was the parting, being sent away from the place where she grew and flourished ! Yet she left all her engines and imps behind her : the old doctor, and his confederate Mrs. Turner, must be her two supporters. She blazons all her miseries to them at her depart, and moistens the way with her tears. Chart- ley was an hundred miles from her happiness ; and a little time thus lost is her eternity. When she came thither, though in the pleasantest part of the summer, she shut herself up in her chamber, not suffering a beam of light to peep upon her dark thoughts. If she stirred out of her chamber, it was in the dead of the night, when sleep had taken possession of all others, but those about her. In this implacable, sad, and discontented humour, she continued some months, always murmuring against, but never giving 'the least civil respect to her husband, which the good man suffered patiently, being loth to be the divulger of his own misery; yet having a manly courage, he would sometimes break into a little passion, to see himself slighted and neglected by himself; but having never found better from her, it was the easier to bear with her."* * Wilson, in Kennett, vol. ii., p. 637. 234 FRANCES HOWARD, Forman, the wizard or astrologer, who is here men- tioned, though undoubtedly a rogue, was far superior in learning and ingenuity to the common mountebanks of his time. He was an excellent chemist^ possessed consider- able skill in astronomy and mathematics, and was inde- fatigable in his thirst after knowledge. He was boro 30th of December, 1552, and at six years old is said to have been troubled with strange dreams and visions. "When he arrived at the age of fourteen, his father being dead, he bound himself apprentice to a grocer and apothe- cary at Salisbury, \vhere he first obtained an insight into the nature of drugs. He endeavoured to improve his mind by reading; but his master, imagining, perhaps, that it interfered with his duties, deprived him of his books : however, Forman's bedfellow was a boy who daily received instruction at a school in Salisbury, and from him he nightly elicited what the other had learnt during the day. At the age of eighteen he established a small school for himself ; and having by this means realized a paltry sum of money, he set out for Oxford, where he entered himself a poor scholar of Magdalene College. After a residence of two years he again turned school- master, and began to study magic, astronomy, and physic. He now thought it necessary to travel, and having visited Portugal and the East, set up as a physician in Philpot- lane, London ; however, not having properly graduated, he was much annoyed by the legitimate practisers, and was four times imprisoned and once fined. On the 27th of June, 1603, having been some time resident in Jesus College, Cambridge, he obtained his degree of Doctor of Physic and Astronomy from that University. From this period he settled himself at Lambeth, where he practised his profession unmolested ; pretending, moreover, to the " hidden art," and duping his fellow creatures with all COUNTESS OF SOMERSET. 235 the paraphernalia of horoscopes, amulets, nativities, and the philosopher's stone. "He was a person," says Anthony Wood, " that in horary questions, especially theft, was very judicious and fortunate ; so, also, in sick- ness, which was indeed his masterpiece ; and had good success in resolving questions about marriage, and in other questions very intricate. He professed to his wife that there would be much trouble about Sir Eobert Carr, Earl of Somerset, and the Lady Frances his wife, who frequently resorted to him, and from whose company he would sometimes lock himself in his study one whole day. He had compounded things upon the desire of Mrs. Anne Turner, to make the said Sir Eobert Carr, calid quo ad Jianc, and Eobert Earl of Essex frigid quo ad hanc, that is to his wife the Lady Frances, who had a mind to get rid of him and be wedded to the said Sir Eobert. He had also certain pictures in wax, repre- senting Sir Eobert and the said Lady, to cause a love between each other, with other such b'ke things." It may be here remarked that these waxen images, as well as the Countess's indelicate letters to Forman, were produced in open court at her trial.* There was also exhibited a written parchment drawn up by Forman, " signifying what ladies loved what lords at court ; " but this the Lord Chief Justice would not allow to be read. It appeared, however, that his own wife was one of the number. The death of the astrologer was a singular one. "Wood says, " I have been informed by a certain author, that the Sunday night before Dr. Forman died, he, the said Forman, and his wife being at supper in their garden- house, she told him in a pleasant humour, that she had been informed that he could resolve whether man or wife * State Trial--, vol. i. 230 PRANCES HOWARD, should die first, and asked him, 'whether I shall bury you or no ? ' ' Oh ! ' said he, ' you shall bury me, but thou wilt much repent it.' Then said she : ' How long will that be ? to which he made answer, ' I shall die before next Thursday night be over.' The next day being Monday, all was well ; Tuesday came and he was not sick ; Wed- nesday came, and still he was well ; and then his imperti- nent wife did twit him in the teeth with what he had said on Sunday. Thursday came, and dinner being ended, he was well, went down to the water side, and took a pair of oars to go to some buildings he was in hand with at Puddle Dock ; and being in the middle of the Thames, he presently fell down, and only said : ' an impost, an impost,' and so died ; whereupon a most sad storm of wind immediately foHoiced." * In the life of Lilly, the astrologer, there is an interesting account of this memorable cheat. He is said to have been extremely kind to the poor. According to Lilly, the following entry was found in one of Forman's books : " This I made the devil write with his own hands, in Lambeth Fields, 1596." Anne Turner, as has been already mentioned, was the widow of a physician, and had seen better times ; but considering crime preferable to poverty, was easily enlisted in the dark designs of her mistress. She was a woman of great beauty, and remarkable in the world of fashion as having introduced yellow starch in ruffs. "When Coke, the Lord Chief Justice, sentenced her to death for her share- in the murder of Overbury, he added the strange order, that "as she was the person who had brought yellow starched ruffs into vogue, she should be hanged in that dress, that the same might end in shame and detestation." He told * Athense Oxonienses, vol. i., p. 371. COUNTESS OF SOMERSET. 237 her also that she was guilty of the seven deadly sins.* Sir Symonds D'Ewes informs us that she appeared at her trial in the fashion which she had introduced, which may account for the order issued by the judge. Even the hangman who executed this wretched woman was decorated with yellow ruffs on the occasion ; no wonder therefore that the fashion shortly grew to be generally detested and disused, which Sir Symonds informs us was the case. There is a wood-cut of Mrs. Turner attached to her dying speech and confession, pre- served in the Library of the Antiquarian Society. She was executed at Tyburn, loth November, 1615, and, according to Camden, in his Annals, died a " true peni- tent." Indeed, we have evidence that her demeanour on the scaffold excited the commisseration of the bystanders. A Mr. John Castle writes to Mr. James Milles, 28th November, 1615, " Since I saw you, I saw Mrs. Turner die. If detestation of painted pride, lust, malice, pow- dered hair, yellow bands, and the rest of the wardrobe of court vanities, if deep sighs, tears, confessions, ejacula- tions of the soul, admonitions of all sorts of people to make God and an unspotted conscience always our friends, if the protestation of faith and hope to be washed by the same Saviour and the like mercies that Mary Magdalene was, be signs and demonstrations of a blessed penitent, then I will tell you that this poor broken woman went a cruce ad gloriam, and now enjoys the presence of her and our Eedeemer. Her body being taken down by her brother, one Norton, servant to the Prince, was, in a coach, conveyed to St. Martin's in the Fields, where, in the evening of the same day, she had an honest and a decent burial." t In a poem of the period, * State Trials, vol. i., p. 230. t Bishop Goodman's Memoirs, voL ii., p. 146. 238 FRANCES HOWARD, entitled " Overbury's Vision," Mrs. Turner is eulogised in some verses, of which the poetry is as pleasing as the sentiment is misplaced : The roses on her lovely cheeks were dead ; The Earth's pale colour had all overspread Her sometime lively look ; and cruel Death, Coming untimely with his wintry breath, Blasted the fruit, which, cherry-like, in show, Upon her dainty lips did whilom grow. how the cruel cord did misbecome Her comely neck ! and yet by law's just doom Had been her death. Those locks, like golden thread, That used in youth to enshrine her globe-like head, Hung careless down ; and that delightful limb, Her snow-white nimble hand, that used to trim Those tresses up, now spitefully did tear And rend the same ; nor did she now forbear To beat that breast of more than lily white, "Which sometime was the bed of sweet delight. From those two springs where joy did whilom dwell, Griefs pearly drops upon her pale cheek fell.* A rather remarkable story is told respecting Sir Jervis Elways, who also died on the gallows for his share in Overbury's death. He had been a fellow-commoner of St. John's College, Cambridge, and had presented a silver bowl to that community. On the day, and, as it is said, on the very hour of his execution, the bowl fell down and broke asunder. Sir Symonds D'Ewes, who was after- wards a fellow-commoner of St. John's, assures us that he was credibly informed of the fact. Elways had at one period of his life been a great gambler ; but having lost a large sum of money at a sitting, he made a solemn vow to his Maker that he would never commit the vice again ; adding a hope, that if he did so he might come to be hanged. He neglected his vow, and recalled the circum- * Harl. Misc., vol. iii., p. 355. COUNTESS OP SOMERSET. 239 stance at the last. " Now God," he said, " hath paid my imprecation home." * To return to the Countess. Essex, wearied with the perpetual proofs of hatred and disgust which she exhi- bited towards him, and perhaps somewhat suspecting the anti-philtrous regimen to which he had been long insen- sibly subjected, at length fell in with her views for the procurement of a divorce. Bishop Goodman throws some curious light on this particular passage in the annals of crime. " I may herein," he says, " speak my certain knowledge concerning the nullity of the marriage between the Earl of Essex and his lady. About a year or two before the marriage was questioned, I did hear from a gentleman belonging to the Earl of Huntingdon, but very well known, and a great servant to the Earl of Essex, that the Earl of Essex was fully resolved to question the marriage, and to prove a nullity ; and I am confident that if the Countess had not then at that instant done it, the Earl of Essex himself would have been the plaintiff; so then, I hereby conclude that both parties were agreed and were alike interested in the business." The Bishop also (on the authority of the minister of Chiswick, who afterwards attended the Countess on her death-bed), assures us that she solemnly protested " on her soul and salvation," that the marriage between her and the Earl of Essex had never been consummated. A petition was eventually drawn up, and presented to the King by the Earl of Northampton, in which the Countess complained of her husband, and requested that she might be set at liberty to unite herself with another. The King accordingly directed that the cause should be heard by the bishops, and others, who were joined together in a commission. * Wilson in Kennett, voL u., p. C99. 240 FRANCES HOWARD, A. written answer, to the objections against the divorce was drawn up by James himself, who took a deep interest in the proceedings. This document, which will be found in the State Trials, abounds in pedantic absurdities, but is principally remarkable from an argument maintained by James, that a man might be impotens versus hanc, while at the same time he was potem versus alias. The arguments of the Archbishop of Canterbury (Abbot), which had given rise to the King's reply, are nearly as pedantic as those of his Majesty. Essex, having been divorced from his beautiful wife, was forced, in order to repay the marriage portion of five thousand pounds, to cut down timber at his seat at Adderston, and would even have been compelled to sell his broad lands, had not his grandmother, the Countess of Leicester, come forward and assisted him.* He retired to his venerable castle of Chartley in Stafford- shire, where he endeavoured to forget the ridicule of the world in the sports of the field. His mode of living at Chartley is fully described by Arthur "Wilson in his life of himself, f The marriage of the lady and her paramour was solemnized at Whitehall, on the 2Gth December, 1613, and was an exhibition of greater magnificence than had ever been witnessed in England at the espousals of a subject. The King, the Queen, and the principal persons of the court were present at the ceremony ; but it did not tend to silence the whisperings of scandal, when it was seen that the bride had the effrontery to stand at the altar in the dress of a virgin. Previously to the ceremony, Somerset, who had been hitherto merely Viscount Eochester, was created an earl, in order that the * Five years of King James ; Harl. Misc., vol. v. p. 379. t Desiderata Curiosa, vol. ii., lib. xii. p. 6. COUNTESS OF SOMERSET. 241 Countess might not lose rank in the transfer of her hand. " Whitehall," says Coke, " was too narrow to contain the triumphs of this marriage, and they must be extended into the city." Accordingly, on the 4th of January, the bride and bridegroom, attended by the Duke of Lennox, the Lord Privy Seal, the Lord Chamberlain, and a numerous train of the nobility, proceeded in great state to the city. A magnificent entertainment was prepared for them in Merchant Taylors' Hall. The music struck up as they entered. Speeches of congratulation were delivered, and the mayor and aldermen came forward in their scarlet gowns to do honour to the favourite and his bride. At the sumptuous banquet which followed, they were waited on by the choicest citizens from the twelve companies. After supper, there were plays, masks, and dancing, and late at night the rejoicings were concluded with a secoud feast. At three o'clock in the morning, the bride and bridegroom returned to Whitehall." * The rejoicings lasted till Twelfth Night, when a sump- tuous masque, entitled " The Masque of Flowers," was presented by the gentlemen of Gray's Inn, in the Banqueting House at Whitehall ; being " the last of the solemnities and magnificences performed at the marriage of the Earl of Somerset with the Lady Frances, daughter to the Earl of Suffolk." The masque closed with the following song, addressed to the bride and bridegroom: " Lovely couple, seasons two, Have performed what they can do. If the gods inspire our song, The other two will not stay long ; Receive our flowers with gracious hand, It's a small wraith to your garland. Coke, roL L, p. 70. VOL. I. 242 FRANCES HOWARD, Flowers of honour, flowers of beauty, Are your own ; we only bring Flowers of affection, flowers of duty." * Thus does the world worship the rising sun. "Within a little more than two years, these two envied and glittering beings were the inmates of a prison ; deprived of fortune and flattery, and narrowly escaping a death of infamy by the hands of the common executioner. But all the world were not so complaisant as the citizens of London. Their ill-fated marriage drew down upon them much reviling and many libels ; and, among other pasquinades, the two following anagrams were very current at the time. The reign of James was the age of such conceits. Frances Howard, Carr finds a w . Thomas Overburie, 0, 0, busie murther. In perusing the history of the Countess of Somerset, it is necessary to bear in mind one important fact. At the period of her marriage with Somerset, and of the subsequent death of Overbury, comprising the most atrocious murder, and the most disgraceful narrative of infamy, that has been recorded in modern times, this unhappy creature could not possibly have exceeded her twenty-first year. That Overbury dis- liked her character, and defamed it to others besides Somerset, is very possible. Weldon says, that " if one of her brothers, or any of her kindred, had challenged and killed him in fair combat, the world would readily have exonerated them." But the expe- dients to which she had recourse would have been * Pearce's Hist, of the Inns of Court, p. 100 ; Biog. Dramatica, Tol. iii., p. 26. COUNTESS OF SOMERSET. 243 atrocious in a savage. Sir Symonds d'Ewes relates, that " on one occasion she offered a thousand pounds to Sir Daniel "Wood, a follower of Anne of Denmark, and an enemy of Overbury's, if either by duel or assassina- tion he would put her detractor out of the way." Wood told her, that " he had no objection to bastinado him, but that he was unwilling to be sent to Tyburn for anv lady's pleasure." While in prison she is described as " very pensive and silent, and much grieved." * She was tried for the murder of Overbury, 24th May, 1616, in Westminster Hall. On entering the Hall the ceremony of carrying the axe before her was omitted. First came the Chancellor, who acted as Lord High Steward, upon horseback. He was followed by his attendants and several peers. Then came six Serjeants- at-law, the Clerk of the Crown in Chancery, the Seal- bearers, and the White Staff. Two barons (Russell and jSTorris), and two knights, terminated the procession. She stood pale and trembling at the bar, and during the reading of the indictment covered her face with her fan. She pleaded guilty to the crime ; but beseeched the Peers to intercede for her with the King, with so many tears, and in such extreme anguish, that the bystanders were unable to refrain from commiseration.! The sentence was that she should be conveyed to the Tower, and from thence to the place of execution, where she was to be hung by the neck, &c. J The wretched existence which she eventually passed with her husband has been already alluded to in the memoir of the Earl. The estrangement between them, though widened by mutual hatred, was rendered even * Bishop Goodman's Memoirs, vol. ii., p. 155. + Camden's Annals, in Kennett, vol. ii., p. 645 ; State Trials, vol. L * State Trial^, vol. i. S-4 TRANCES HOTVARD, COUNTESS OF SOMERSET. necessary by an injury which she had sustained in giving birth to her only daughter.* The disease of which she died was as horrible as her crime, but the details are too loathsome for insertion, f Walpole informs us, in his Anecdotes of Painting, that in 1762 her escutcheon still remained entire in the beautiful parish church of Waldeu. She died in 1632, at the age of thirty-nine. * Journal of Sir S. D'Ewes, p. 15. T See Wilson, p. SO. MEMKY HOWARDS, EARL OF NORTHAMPTON-. OB, 1614, 240 HENRY HOWARD, EARL OF NORTHAMPTON. Birth of Henry Howard His Relations His Advancement at Court- Prediction of an Italian Astrologer : its Fulfilment Character of the Earl His Share in Overbury's Murder His Letters to Sir Jervis Elways Anomalies of his Nature His Literary Works His Religion Detection of his secret Correspondence with Cardinal Bellarmine His Death His Bequest to the King. THIS uuamiable personage was born at Shottisham, in Norfolk, about the year 1539. He was the brother of that Duke of Norfolk who lost his head in the cause of the unfortunate Mary Queen of Scots, and the second son of the lamented Earl of Surrey, the darling of poetry, of learning, and romance. He was educated at King's College, and afterwards at Trinity Hall, Cambridge.* During the reign of Elizabeth he had met with little favour, but at the accession of James had no reason to complain of neglect. In May, 1603, he was made a Privy Councillor ; in January following, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports ; in March, Baron of Marnhill, and Earl of Northampton ; and in April, 1608, Lord Privy Seal, and was honoured with the Garter. In 1609 he was made High Steward of the University of Oxford, and in 1612 Chancellor of Cambridge. James had not forgotten the misfortunes of the Howards in the cause of his mother. Northampton once related a curious story to his * Wood's Fasti, vol. ii., p. 102 ; Brydges' Peers of England, vol. LL, p. 237. 246 HENRY HOWARD, secretary, one George Penny. "When a mere infant, it had been predicted to his father, by an Italian astrologer, that in middle life his son would be reduced to such a state of poverty as to be in want of a meal, but that in his old age his wealth would be abundant. When the prediction was made, that a Howard should ever be poor, appeared at least to be extremely improbable ; but the fact, nevertheless, came to pass. By the execution of the Duke of Norfolk, and the forfeiture of his estate, his family became so impoverished, that the Earl, to use the phrase of his biographer, was often fain to dine with Duke Humphrey : those hours, during which others were enjoying the luxury of the table, were frequently employed by the hungry Earl in poring over the contents of the booksellers' stalls in St. Paul's Churchyard.* The unmeasured favours which were afterwards heaped upon him by James, abundantly fulfilled the prophecy .f The Earl was one of those mistaken dreamers who are ever fancying that the world is their dupe, while in reality they deceive no one but themselves. The delusion lasted through a long life of contemptible cunning and clumsy intrigue. Plattery and dissimulation were his tools, but they must have been awkwardly handled ; for his motives and his character were seen through by all. Lady Bacon, the mother of Sir Francis, anxiously fore- warns her sons against keeping his society: "He is," she says, " a dangerous intelligencing man ; no doubt a subtle Papist, inwardly, and lieth in wait." Again, she adds : " Avoid his familiarity, as ye love the truth and * During the reign of James, the neighbourhood of St. Paul's, and especially the body of the church itself, were the resort of all the idlers and scandal-mongers of the day. The latter place was styled Paul's Walk, and its frequenters, Paul-walkers. t Lloyd's State Worthies, vol. ii., p. 68. EARL OF NORTHAMPTON. 247 yourself. Pretending courtesy, he worketh mischief perilously. I have long known him and observed him. His workings have been stark naught." * Bowland White, also, thus writes to Sir Robert Sydney : " Lord Harry is held a ranter ; and I pray you take heed of him, if you have not already gone too far." f In the " Five Tears of King James," he is spoken of as "famous for secret insinuation and for cunning flatteries;" and "Weldon tells us that, " though not a wise man, he was the greatest flatterer in the world." If ever he was surpassed in this despicable art, it was by one of his own adulators, when he said of him, " that he was the most learned amongst the noble, and the most noble amongst the learned." Unfortunately this fulsome compliment was paid to lum by a bishop, who for sixteen years was kept in the indifferent see of Llandaff, and who, without doubt, had an eye to translation. J A long career of folly and artifice was followed by an old age of infamy and crime. He had actually completed his seventieth year, when he aided in the intrigue of his own niece with Somerset. After a lapse of threescore years and ten, the hope of further aggrandisement, and an innate love of intrigue, con- tinued to be the main-spring and the curse of his existence. Of his subsequent share in Overbury's murder not the remotest doubt can exist. He is even said to have been the author of the infamous plot, by which Overbury was offered, and induced to refuse, the embassy to Eussia, and thus fell under the King's displeasure. But the following letters, the originals of * Bacon Papers, vol. ii., p. 501. t Sydney Papers, vol. ii., p. 129. t Wood's Fasti, vol. i., p. 102. Journal of Sir S. D"Kwes, p. 5. On the scaffold, Sir Jervis Elways passionately accused Northampton of having "drawn him into 248 HENRY HOWARD, which are preserved in the Cotton Library, will, perhaps, be considered sufficient to establish his guilt. They are addressed to Sir Jervis Elvvays, the Lieutenant of the Tower: "WORTHY ME. LIEUTENANT, " My Lord of Rochester,* desiring to do the last honour to his deceased friend, requires me to desire you to deliver the body of Sir Thomas Overbury to any friend of his that desires it, to do him honour at his funeral. Herein my Lord declares the constancy of his affection for the dead, and the meaning that he had in my knowledge, to have given the strongest strain, at this time of the King's being at Theobalds, for his delivery. I fear no impediment to this honourable desire of my Lord's but the unsweetness of the body, because it was reported that he had some issues, and in that case the keeping of him must needs give more offence than it can do honour. My fear is also, that the body is already- buried upon that cause whereof I write ; which being so, it is too late to set out solemnity. "Thus, with my kindest commendations, I end, and rest, your affectionate and assured friend, " H. NORTHAMPTON." Postscript. "You see my Lord's earnest desire with my concurring care, that all respect be had to him that may be for the credit of his memory ; but yet I wish withal that you do very discreetly inform yourself whether this grace hath been afforded formerly to close prisoners, or whether you may grant my request in this case, who speak out of the sense of my Lord's affection, the villany, which brought him to that shameful end." Buliup Goodman's Memoirs, vol. ii., p. 154. * The favourite had not vet been raised to the earldom of Somerset. EARL OF NORTHAMPTON. 249 though I be a Councillor, without offence, or prejudice. For I would be loth to draw either you or myself into censure, now I have well thought of the matter, though it be a work of charity." This letter is endorsed by Sir Jervis Elways, aa follows : " So soon as Sir Thomas Overbury was departed, I writ unto my Lord of Northampton ; and because my experience could not direct me, I desired to know what I should do with the body, acquainting his Lordship with his issues, as Weston had informed me, and other foul- ness of his body, which was then accounted the - . My Lord writ unto me, that I should first have his body viewed by a jury; and I well remember, his Lordship advised me to send for Sir John Sidcote to see the body, and to suffer as many else of his friends to see it as would, and presently to bury it in the body of the quire, for the body would not keep. Notwithstanding Sir Thomas Overbury dying about five in the morning, I kept his body unburied until three or four of the clock in the afternoon. The next day Sir John Sidcote came thither; I could not get him to bestow a coffin, nor a winding- sheet upon him. The coffin I bestowed ; but who did wind him I know not. For, indeed, the body was very noisome ; so that notwithstanding my Lord's direction we kept it over long, as we all felt, . HELWISE." To the next letter the Earl, for obvious reasons, omitted to sign his name. " WOBTHY MB. LlEUTEN AKT, " Let me entreat you to call Sidcote, and three or four of his friends, if so many come, to view the body ; if they 2oO HENRY HOWARD, have not already done it ; and so soon as it is viewed, without staying the coming of a messenger from the Court ; in any case, see it interred in the body of the chapel within the To\ver instantly. " If they have viewed, then bury it by and by ; for it is time, considering the humours of that damned crew, that only desire means to move pity and raise scandals. Let no man's instance move you to make stay in any case, and bring me these letters when I next see you. " Fail not a jot herein, as you love your friends ; nor after Sidcote and his friends have viewed, stay one minute, but let the priest be ready ; and if Sidcote be not there, send for him speedily, pretending that the body will not tarry. Tours ever."* " In poste haste at 12." How strange are the anomalies of human nature ! The same wretched old man, the cold-blooded murderer, and the corrupter of his own niece, was a munificent patron of public charities. At Greenwich he built two colleges, one for decayed gentlemen, and the other for twelve poor men and a governor. At Eise, in Norfolk, he erected an hospital for twelve poor women ;t and at Cluu, in Shrop- * WinwcKxTs Memorials, vol. iii., p. 481. See Athen. Oxon. and Cotton MSS. and Titus, b. vii., fol. 465. In addition to these there is extant a third letter, written by Northampton to Sir Jervis Elway., previous to Overbury's death. As Lodge, I think, is the only writer who has remarked it, and as it tends to throw some question over the mysterious strictness with which Overbury was supposed to have been immured, it is but fair that the following important extract should be inserted : "In compliance," says the Earl, " with old Mr. Overbury's petition, it is the King's pleasure that Dr. Craig, this bearer, should pre- sently be admitted to Sir Thomas Overbury ; that during the time of his infirmity he may take care of him, and as often as, in his judgment, to this end he shall find reason." Lodge, Portraits of Illus. Personages. t Lloyd's Worthies, 730 ; Aulieus Coquin. in Seer. Hist, of James I. M>1. ii., p 158. EARL OP NORTHAMPTON. 251 shire, another charitable retreat for twelve poor men and a governor. He was also a -writer on theological subjects. Northampton was the author of several works, which are now either forgotten or only casually recorded. He is included in Walpole's Royal and Noble Authors, where there is a longer, but scarcely a more nattering notice, than he deserves. The same man who made little ado about crime, made a great deal about religion. He was bred a Roman Catholic, in which faith, after changing his religion four times, he died.* At heart, however, there is little doubt of his having been a Papist throughout ; indeed, he con- fessed as much in his will.f The appointment which he held as "Warden of the Cinque Ports enabled him to give free ingress to the priests. Of this advantage he availed himself to such an extent, that the people began to mur- mur, and the King himself exhibited symptoms of strong displeasure. Flattering himself, however, that actual proofs were wanting, Northampton commenced a perse- cution of several persons who had accused him of the connivance. An inquiry took place in the Star Chamber. The subtle Earl appeared to be carrying all before him when the archbishop of Canterbury rose from his seat. After a short premise, he produced a letter in court written in Northampton's own hand to Cardinal Bellar- mine. In this epistle the Earl not only expressed himself a firm believer in the tenets of the Church of Eome, but assured the Cardinal, that though the features of the times, and the solicitations of his Sovereign had compelled him to wear the mask of Protestantism, he was neverthe- less prepared to enter into any attempt which might be * Lord Orford's Works, ToL L, p. 335. t Rapin. vol. iL, p. 184. 252 HENRY HOWARD, agreed upon for the advancement of their mutual faith.* The defamers were in consequence liberated, and North- ampton retired in disgust to his house at Greenwich. He survived the disclosure but a few months ; breathing his last on the 15th of June, 1614, at his residence, Northampton (now Northumberland) House, in the Strand, in the 75th year of his age. Sir Henry "\Votton writes, in a letter to Sir Edmund Bacon : " The Earl of North- ampton, having, after a lingering fever, spent more spirits than a younger body could well have borne, by the inci- sion of a wennish tumour grown on his thigh, yesternight, between eleven and twelve of the clock, departed out of this world ; where, as he had proved much variety and vicissitude of fortune in the course of his life, so perad- venture he hath prevented another change thereof by the opportunity of his end."t A curious letter is extant, addressed by the Earl to his friend Somerset, written in the last hours of life, and in the full consciousness that he was dying. He seems to have regarded his approaching dissolution without fear, and to have interested himself entirely for those friends whom he would leave unprovided behind him. After preferring a few requests in their behalf, " Assurance from your lordship," he says, " that you will effect those final requests, shall send my spirit out of this transitory tabernacle with as much comfort and content as the bird flies to the mountain;" and he concludes: "Farewell, noble lord; and the last farewell in the last letter that ever I look to write to any man. I presume confidently of your favour in these poor suits, and will be, both living and dyiug, your affectionate friend and servant, "H. NORTHAMPTON.";}: * Five Years of King James, Harl. Misc., vol. v., p. 335 ; Rapin, vol. ii., p. 184. t Reliquiae Wottoniame, p. 434. J Dalrymple. Memorials of James. EARL OF NORTHAMPTON. 253 The Earl was buried at his own request, in the chapel belonging to Dover Castle.* He built Northumberland House, in the Strand, and, according to Lloyd, gave the design of the famous struc- ture of Audley End. He was never married : one writer says of him, that " he was more wedded to his book than his bed, for he died a bachelor."t His hatred was as deadly as his conduct was treacherous. He said of the gallant Kobert Mansel, " that he would be content to be perpetually damned in hell to be revenged of that proud Welshman. "J In his will, Northampton inserted the following bequest : " I most humbly beseech his excel- lent Majesty to accept, as a poor remembrance from his faithful servant, an ewer of gold, of one hundred pounds value, with one hundred jacobiue pieces of twenty-two shillings a piece therein : on which ewer my desire is there should be this inscription JDetur dignissimo." * Wood's Fasti, vol. ii., p. 102 ; Harl. Misc., vol. v., p. 386. t Aulicus Coquinarire. J Weldon, p. 23. Lodge, Portraits of Illustrious Personages. 254, MAEY, COUNTESS OF PEMBROKE. Relations of this Lady Her Character Her Literary Works Her Death. ALTHOUGH the character and pursuits of this illus- trious lady render a notice of her somewhat foreign to the character of this Work, it may not be unin- teresting to say a few words respecting the mother of Earl William and Earl Philip : moreover, it is re- freshing to turn a moment from the glare of folly and of vice, to unpretending piety and intellectual refinement. Mary Countess of Pembroke was the daughter of Sir Henry Sidney, a Knight of the Garter, and one of the stately courtiers of Queen Elizabeth. She was the wife of Henry, second Earl of Pembroke, and the beloved sister of the memorable Sir Philip Sydney. Their tastes and habits were congenial : there was the same high sense of honour, the same elegance of mind, the same charitable regard for human suffering. Sir Philip dedicated his Arcadia to his sister, the being who best loved the author, and who was the most competent to appreciate the work.* She spent a long life and a splendid fortune in doing good to her fellow-creatures. She patronised men of learning, and embellished it herself ; indeed, her wit and * Athenre Oxon. vol. i., p. 227. COUNTESS OF PEMBROKE OB MARY, COUNTESS OF PEMBROKE. 25" mental endowments appear only to have been exceeded by her piety. Dr. Donne said of her, that " she coukl converse well on all subjects, from predestination to sleave silk ;" * and Spenser eulogises her as The gentlest shepherdess that lived that day ; And most resembling, both in shape and spirit, Her brother dear. In her old age the cowardice and misconduct of her son Philip nearly broke her heart, and she is even said to have torn her hair with anguish when she heard the tale of his dishonour .f The Countess was herself an authoress. She trans- lated from the French, Mornay's " Discourse of Life and Death," and the tragedy of "Antoine;" the former printed in 1590, and the latter in 1600. "Wood informs us, in a notice of "William Bradbridge, who was Chaplain at "Wilton, that with the assistance of that Divine, she completed a translation of the Psalms. He contradicts himself, however, in another place, and mentions her brother, Sir Philip, as the translator; adding that the MS. curiously bound in crimson velvet was bequeathed by the Countess to the library at "Wilton.J Some agree- able specimens of her epistolary style will be found in Park's Noble Authors. She died at an advanced age, in her house in Aldersgate Street, 25th of September, 1621. Her remains were interred in Salisbury cathedral, in the vault of the Herberts. Ben Jonson's admirable epitaph, * Ballard's Memoirs, p. 307. t Osborne, in Seer. Hist, of James I. vol. i., p. 224. Athenue Oxon. vol. L, pp. 228, 704. Probably this translation w.-> , the joint production of the Countess and her brother Sir Philip Sydney. She certainly versified three of the Psalms, which will be found in tb-.- Nugte AntiquK of Sir John Harrington, vol. ii., p. 167. 256 MARY, COUNTESS OP PEMBROKE. though somewhat hackneyed, will, perhaps, bear repe- tition : Underneath this marble hearse Lies the subject of all verse Sidney's sister, Pembroke's mother. Death, ere thou Last slain another \Vise, and fair, and good as she, Time shall throw a dart at thee. Marble piles let no man raise To her name ; for after days Some kind woman born as she, Reading this, like Niobe, Shall turn marble, and become Both her mourner and her toinb. OLLO AM M EKB1 EARL OF PEMBROKE, OB-, I63O, 257 WILLIAM HERBERT, EARL OF PEMBROKE. Cluracter of this Nobleman His Career at Court His Reception at the Court of Elizabeth His Marriage His Conduct at the Council-Chamber of James The King's practical Joke, and Pembroke's Retaliation Quarrel between Pembroke and Sir George Wharton Wood's Description of Pembroke Remarkable Circumstances attending his Decease. THE life of William Earl of Pembroke is invariably a panegyric. Wit, gallantry, integrity, and refined taste, the highest breeding, and the kindest nature, rendered him one of the most delightful characters of his time. Though too high-minded and independent to make his fortune as a courtier, he was ever respected by his sovereign, was admired by all parties, and beloved by all ranks. He was neither subservient to Elizabeth, who was partial to him, nor to James, who stood in awe of him. He was liked by the courtiers because he asked for nothing ; and admired by the public because he waa indebted for nothing. He stood a superior being among the buffoons and sycophants of the Court of James; among them, but not of them. He was loyal to his King, he loved his country, and supported its institu- tions: he lived magnificently without impoverishing his heir, and possessed genius himself, and distinguished it in others. In a word, he was the patron of Shakspeare and of Inigo Jones.* * It U now, we believe, pretty generally admitted, that it waa to VOL. I. 3 258 WILLIAM HERBEET, With all these virtues and accomplishments, the Earl was not altogether exempt from the weaknesses of human nature. A staunch votary of pleasure, he was too ardent in his admiration of women, for whom he sacrificed too much both of his fortune and his time. If these indul- gences somewhat out-lasted the period of life when alone they can be at all venial, they may be attributed perhaps to the unpleasant circumstances which embittered his domestic life. William, third Earl of Pembroke, was born at Wilton, April 8th or 10th, 1580. In 1592, at the age of twelve, he was entered at New College, Oxford, where he remained two years. He succeeded his father in the family honours, January 19th, 1601. In 1603, he was made a Knight of the Garter by James the First, and in 1609, Governor of Portsmouth. In the 15th year of King James he was made Lord Chamberlain, and unanimously elected Chan- cellor of the University of Oxford. Charles the First, at his accession, made him Lord Steward of the House- hold, and, in the fifth year of his reign, Warden of the Stannaries.* We learn from the Sydney Papers, that the Earl, then Lord Herbert, made his first appearance at the court of Elizabeth, about August, 1599 ; his father allowing him a retinue of two hundred horse to attend her Majesty's person. The old Queen received him graciously, for her admiration of manly beauty still remained; but her favours were slighted by Lord Herbert. Rowland White complains bitterly of this circumstance, in his letters to Herbert's uncle Sir Philip Sidney. On the 8th of September, 1599, he writes, " My Lord Herbert this nobleman, tinder the initials W. H., that the Sonnets of Shakspeare were inscribed as "the only begetter" of them. " Athense Oxon., vol. i., p. 546 ; Collins's Peerage, voL iii., p. 122. EARL OF PEMBROKE. 259 is a continual courtier, but doth not follow his business with that care as is fit, he is so cold a courtier in a matter of such greatness." On the 12th of the same month he renews the subject: "Now that my Lord Herbert is gone, he is much blamed for his cold and weak manner of pursuing her Majesty's favour, having had so good steps to lead him unto it. There is a want of spirit and courage laid to his charge, and that he is a melancholy young man. Young Carey follows it with more care and boldness." According to the dates of these letters his stay at court must have been extremely brief. At his farewell visit the Queen detained him in private conversation for an hour ; no wonder, therefore, that his friends complained of his coldness.* He married, about the year 1603, Mary, daughter of Gilbert, Earl of Shrewsbury. She brought him a large fortune, but this advantage was negatived by a disagree- able person and an unenviable temper, and Lord Claren- don speaks of their union as "most unhappy." Queen Elizabeth appears to have been present, and to have danced, in her old age, at their marriage.t At the council-table of James, the Earl's conduct was manly in the extreme. Wherever the King's interests were really concerned, he not only opposed the flimsy flatterers of the Court, but even thwarted the King him- self in some of his more objectionable measures. When the Spanish match was under discussion, notwithstanding it was the darling offspring of the King's brain, he opposed it so violently, that James is described as actually terrified at his vehemence.^ Nevertheless, the King had sense enough to value his fidelity and open dealing, and * Sydney Papers, vol. ii., p. 120, 122, 144. t See the Sydney Papers. * Wood's Fasti, vol. ii., p. 172 ; Lloyd's Worthies, vol. ii., p. 233. 260 WILLIAM HERBERT, though Lord Clarendon says, " he rather esteemed Pem- broke than loved him," yet his credit remained unim- paired. The Earl was an especial favourite with Anne of Denmark. Pembroke is said to have entertained a singular dis- like to frogs. James, aware of the prejudice, and delighting to a childish degree in any practical joke, once took an opportunity of thrusting one of these creatures down the Earl's neck. The manner in which the latter revenged himself, though certainly pardonable, would have been attempted by few others about the court. James, as we have more than once mentioned, had the utmost abhorrence of a pig : one of these animals was therefore obtained, and lodged, by Pembroke's orders, under an article of furniture in the King's apartment. His Majesty was extremely annoyed when he made the discovery, and the more so as the joke was played in the Earl's own house at Wilton.* The quarrel which occurred, in 1608, between the Earl and Sir George "Wharton, is too curious to be omitted. The particulars are thus related in a letter from Thomas Coke to the Countess of Shrewsbury : "I do not doubt but your Ladyship hath heard before this what honour my Lord of Pembroke hath got by his discreet and punctual proceeding in the question betwixt Sir George Wharton and him, yet for that, I have under- stood it by Mr. Morgan and others, particularly least your Ladyship may have heard it but in general, I adven- ture to advertise your Ladyship, on Friday was seven- night, my Lord and Sir George, with others, played cards, where Sir George showed such choler, as my Lord of Pembroke told him, ' Sir George, I have loved you long, and desire still to do so ; but by your * Lloyd's Worthies, vol. ii., p. 233. EARL OF PEMBROKE. 261 manner in playing, you lay it upon me, either to leave to love you, or to leave to play with you ; wherefore, choosing to love you still, I will never play with you more.' The next day, they hunted with the King, and my Lord of Pembroke's page galloping after his lord, Sir George came up to him and lashed him over the face with his rod. The boy told his lordship, who finding by strict examination, that the boy had not deserved it, demanded of Sir George why he did strike his boy ? Sir George answered, he meant nothing towards his lord- ship. My Lord said, he asked not that, but what the cause was why he did strike the boy ? ' I did not strike him,' answered Sir George. ' Then I am satisfied,' said the Earl. ' God's blood!' said Sir George, 'I say it not to satisfy you.' 'But, sir,' said the Earl, 'whoso striketh my boy without cause, shall give me an account of it, and, therefore, I tell you, it was foolishly done of you.' ' You are a fool,' said Sir George. ' You lie in your throat,' said the Earl. And thus the Duke of Lennox, Marr, and others, coming in, this rested, and every one began to gallop away on hunting, and the Earl being gone about six or eight minutes, Sir George spurred his horse with all speed up to him, which was observed by the Earl of Montgomery, who, crying, ' Brother, take heed, you will be stricken,' (neither party having weapon) the Earl instantly received him with a sound backward blow over the face, which drove him almost upon his horse croup. But the company being present, they galloped again, till in the end the stag died in Bagshot farm, where Sir George taking opportunity to wait, came afterwards to the Earl, and offered him a paper, protest- ing there was nothing in it unfit for his lordship to read. The Earl said, ' Sir George, give me no papers here, where all they see us who know what hath passed, if you 262 WILLIAM HERBERT, mean to do yourself right : but tell me, is not the purport of it a challenge to me?' 'Yes,' said Sir George. ' "Well,' said the Earl, ' this night you shall have an answer, now let us talk of the ;' and after calling Sir John Lee unto him, willed him to tell Sir Greorge, that that night he should bring him the length of my Lord's sword. After being come home, and divers coming to hia chamber, and Sir John (amongst the rest) only private to his lordship's intent, '0, Sir John,' said his lordship, 'you are coming for the sword which I promised you,' and commanded his page to deliver unto him the sword which my Lord of Devonshire gave him, which he receiving as given, went, according to his former direction, to Sir George, [and] told him that was the Earl's sword ; the next morning being Sunday, the time when they would fight, and, therefore, willed him to withdraw himself, and take measure of the sword. ' No,' said Sir George, ' it shall not need ; I will have no other sword than this at my side.' 'Advise yourself,' said Sir John; 'that is shorter than this, and do not think that the Earl will take one hair's breadth of advantage at your hands.' " Upon this, Sir George was first sent for, and after, the Earl, and the King's commandment laid upon them not to stir; after which Sir George came to Sir John Lee, and told him that if my Lord would break the King's commandment, he would do the like. Sir John said, he knew the Earl was very scrupulous of breaking any of the King's commandments, but yet he would undertake upon his life to bring Sir George to where the Earl should be, all alone, with that sword by his side ; where, if Sir George would draw upon him, his Lordship should either defend himself, or abide the hazard ; but soon after, Sir George came to Sir John Lee, and told him, he had received another commandment from his Majesty, and EARL OF PEMBROKE. 2<>o resolved to observe the same. After, they were both convented before the Lords, and last before the King, and it was, as I hear, required that my Lord should give him satisfaction, which his Lordship said he should do thus : If Sir George would confess that he did not intend to have offended him at that time, he would acknowledge that he was sorry that he had stricken him, and thus it is ended." * Sir George Whartonwas killed in a duel, the following year, by his intimate friend Sir James Stuart, who also died of the wounds he received in the encounter. According to Anthony "Wood, Earl "William was in person " rather majestic than elegant, and his presence, whether quiet or in motion, was full of stately gravity." He speaks of him as the " very picture and viva effigies of nobility." The Earl, among his other accomplishments, was a poet, and the author of some " amorous and not inelegant airs," which were set to music by his contem- poraries.f The following graceful trifle affords an agree- able specimen of his muse : Dry those fair, those crystal eyes, Which like glowing fountains rise To drown those banks ; griefs sullen brooks Would better flow from furrowed looks ; Thy lovely face was never meant To be the seat of discontent. Then clear those watery eyes again, That else portend a lasting rain, Lest the clouds which settle there Prolong my winter all the year ; And thy example others make, In love with sorrow for thy sake. The goddess of his idolatry was Christian, daughter of * Lodge's Illustrations, voL iii., p. 359. t Athen. Oxon. vol. ii., p. 546. 264 WILLIAM HERBERT, Edward Lord Bruce : she afterwards became the wife of William Cavendish, second Earl of Devonshire. Some remarkable circumstances attended the Earl's decease. It had been foretold by his tutor Sandford, and afterwards by the mad prophetess, Lady Davies, that he would either not complete, or would die on the anniver- sary of, his fiftieth birthday. That these predictions were actually fulfilled, appears by the following curious passage in Clarendon's History of the Rebellion: " A short story may not be unfitly inserted ; it being frequently mentioned by a person of known integrity, whose cha- racter is here undertaken to be set down, who at that time being on his way to London, met at Maidenhead some persons of quality, of relation or dependence upon the Earl of Pembroke, Sir Charles Morgan, commonly called General Morgan, who had commanded an army in Germany, and defended Stoad ; Dr. Feild, then Bishop of St. David's ; and Dr. Chafin, the Earl's then chaplain in his house, and much in his favour. At supper one of them drank a health to the Lord Steward ; upon which another of them said, that he believed his Lord was at that time very merry, for he had now outlived the day which his tutor Sandford had prognosticated upon his nativity he would not outlive ; but he had done it now, for that was his birthday, which had completed his age to fifty years. The next morning, by the time they came to Colebrook, they met with the news of his death." On the fatal day, the Earl had engaged himself to sup with the Countess of Bedford. During the meal, he appeared unusually well, and remarked that he would never again trust a woman's prophecy. A few hours afterwards he was attacked by apoplexy, and died during the night.* Granger, to make the story more remarkable, * Kennett, vol. iii., p. 61 ; Echard, vol. ii., p. 90. EAKL OP PEMBI101LE. 265 relates that when the Earl's body was opened, in order to be embalmed, the incision was no sooner made, than the corpse lifted its hand. The anecdote, he adds, was told by a descendant of the Pembroke family, who had often heard it related. The Earl died at his house in London, called Baynard's Castle, on the 10th of April, 16^0,* and was buried near his father in Salisbury Cathedral. The portrait of Earl William has been painted by Vandyke, and his character drawn by Lord Clarendon. The latter should be his epitaph : it is one of the most beautiful delineations of that illustrious historian. * Athen. Oxon., vol. i., p. 546; Collins'e Peerage, vol. iii., p. 123. As the Earl is stated to have been born on the eigfiik of April, 1580, unless the dates are wrongly given this discrepancy would tend to throw some c!oubt on Lord Clarendon's remarkable anecdote. 266 PHILIP HERBERT, EARL OF PEMBROKE AND MONTGOMERY. The Earl's Character King James's Partiality for him His Progre*<= at Court His Appearance at the Court of Elizabeth His Marriage to Lady Susan Vere The Wedding Banquet and Mask Montgomery's Insolence and Cowardice He is horse-whipped by Ramsey The Earl's Vanity as a Patron of Literature His Second Wife His political Apostasy Burlesque of his Speech to the University of Oxford His Study of Physiognomy His Death. PHILIP, Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery, the "memorable simpleton" of "Walpole, unfortunately dim- med the lustre of a proud name by his cowardice, arro- gance, and folly. A favourite who turns rebel can have few friends, and Montgomery, who was both, has had no admirers. The Earl was the second son of the celebrated Mary, Countess of Pembroke, nephew of Sir Philip Sidney, and younger brother of Earl William. He was born about the year 1582. He was the first acknowledged favourite of King James, after his accession to the English throne. His handsome face, his love of dogs and horses, and especially his tasto for hunting, rendered him peculiarly acceptable to that monarch. His influence remained unimpaired till the appearance of Robert Carr at Court, an event which quickly turned the current of Royal favour. However, as Montgomery neither remonstrated with James, nor showed any bitterness at his altered position, the King, Vsi^i-TJte px PHDLDP HERBERT, JEARX Oi" PEMBB.OKE & MOUTGO3CERY OB. 1650, PHILIP HERBERT, EARL OF PEMBROKE, ETC. 207 who above all things loved ease and quiet, so far appre- ciated his forbearance, as to regard him ever after as his second favourite, whoever might chance to be the first.* On his death-bed James gave the greatest proof of his confidence in the Earl. When the suspicion broke on the dying monarch, that Buckingham and his mother were tampering with his life, it was to Montgomery that he is said to have exclaimed trustingly, " For God's sake look that I have fair play ! "t The Earl received his education at Kew College, Oxford. On the 4th of June, 1605, he was created Earl of Montgomery, and on the 10th of May, 1608, was made a Knight of the Garter. The favours which he obtained from James were not substantial, for during this reign he rose no higher than to be a Lord of the Bed-chamber. In the reign of Charles the First, however, he became Lord Chamberlain, and, to the discredit of the University, Chancellor of Oxford. He succeeded his brother as Earl of Pembroke, 10th April, 1630. His first appearance at Court had been in the lifetime of Elizabeth, where, though a mere boy at the time, he appears to have rendered himself conspicuous for that want of modesty, which formed so prominent a trait in his character, and which was so offensive to his contem- poraries. Eowland White, in a letter dated 26th April. 1600, thus writes to Sir Philip Sidney : " Mr. Philip Herbert is here (at Court), and one of the forwardest courtiers that ever I saw in my time ; for he had not been here two hours, but he grew as bold as the best. Upon Thursday he goes back again, full sore against his will." J He seema to have shared the success of his brother iu * Clarendon, voL i., p. 10;". ! Weldon, p. 161. J Sydney Papers, vol. ii., p. 190. 268 PHILIP HERBERT, the tournaments and other sports of the period. "We find, The Herberts, every Cockpit-day, Do carry away The gold and glory of the day.* He was privately contracted in October, 1604, without the knowledge of the friends of either party, to Lady Susan Vere, daughter of Edward, 17th Earl of Oxford. The family of the young lady exhibited some aversion to the match, but the King interposed and softened their prejudices, f On St. John's Day, 1604, they were mar- ried with great magnificence at Whitehall. The bride was led to church by Prince Henry and the Duke of Holstein, and the King himself gave her away. She looked so lovely in her tresses and jewels, that the King observed, " were he unmarried, he would keep her him- self." After the ceremony there was a splendid banquet, succeeded by as gorgeous a mask. The following account of the entertainment throws an amusing light on the manners of the time: "There was no small loss that night of chains and jewels, and many great ladies were made shorter by the skirts, and were very well served that they could keep cut no better. The presents of plate and other things given by the noblemen were valued at 2,50UZ. ; but that which made it a good marriage was a gift of the King's, of 500L for the bride's jointure. They were lodged in the Council- chamber, where the King, in Jiis shirt and night-gown, gave them a reveille matin before they were up. No ceremony was omitted of bride-cakes, points, garters, and gloves, which have been ever since the livery of the court ; and at night there was sewing into the sheet, casting off the bride's left hose, and many other * Lodge's Illustrations, vol. iii., p. 291. t Ibid., vol. iii., p. 238. EARL OF PEMBROKE AND MONTGOMERY. 269 pretty sorceries." * By Lady Susan the Earl had several children, who outlived him. Lord Clarendon says of Montgomery, "There were very few great persons in authority, who were not frequently offended by him by sharp and scandalous discourses and invectives agaiust them, behind their backs ; for which they found it best to receive satisfaction by submissions, and professions, and protestations, which was a coin he was plentifully supplied with for the payment of all those debts." The fact is, he was one of the most cowardly and choleric persons about the court. He appears to have been constantly engaged in some unbecoming quarrel. In 1610, a dispute with the Earl of Southampton proceeded to such lengths, that the rackets flew about each other's ears : the King, however, eventually made up the matter without bloodshed.f After Montgomery had become Lord Chamberlain, Anthony Wood observes quaintly, that he broke many wiser heads than his own. This remark refers principally to his unjustifiable attack upon May, the translator of Lucan. The poet (who was also a gentleman of some consideration in his time), while a mask was being performed in the Bauqueting-house at "Whitehall, happening to push accidentally against the Chamberlain, the latter instantly lifted his staff, and broke it over May's shoulders. J Wood says, that had it not been for the Earl's office, and the place they were in, "it might have been a question whether the Earl would ever have struck again." An account of the fracas is related by Mr. Garrard in one of his gossiping letters to the Earl of Strafford, dated 27th February, 1033: "Mr. May, * Letter from Sir D. Carlton to Mr. Winwood; Winwood, Mem. Yd. ii., p. 43. ) Winwood, Mem. yol. iii., p. 154. J Biog. Brit. vol. v., p. 3067, Art. May ; Osborne's Memoirs. *270 PHILIP HERBERT, of Gray's Inn, a fine poet, he who translated Lucan, came athwart my Lord Chamberlain in the Banqueting-house, who broke his staff over his shoulders, not knowing who he was, the King present, who knew him, for he calls him his poet, and told the Chamberlain of it, who sent for him the next morning, and fairly excused himself to him, and gave him fifty pounds in pieces : I believe he was thus indulgent for the name's sake." * At the time of his well-known quarrel with Lord Mowbray, which took place in the House of Lords in 1641, he must have been nearly in his sixtieth year. Lord Clarendon says, that " from angry and disdainful words, an offer or attempt at blows was made." Probably a blow was really struck, for it is certain that Mowbray threw an inkstand at the thick head of his antagonist. They were both sent to the Tower by order of the Lords, and Montgomery was even deprived by the King of his post of Chamberlain. Early in life, Montgomery had himself received a lesson, which should have deterred him from assaulting others. In 1607, he had been publicly horse- whipped, on the race-course at Croydon, by Ramsey, a Scotch gentleman, afterwards created Earl of Holderness. This was the same Ramsey from whose hands, some years previously, the young Earl of Gowrie had met with his death. The affray caused so much excitement at the time, that the English assembled together, resolving to make it a national quarrel ; but Montgomery not offering to strike again, " nothing," says Osborne, " was spilt but the reputation of a gentleman ; in lieu of which, if I am not mistaken, the King made him a knight, a baron, a viscount, and an earl in one day." Fortunately the truth of this story does not rest upon Osborne's statement, for, * Strafford Letters, vol. i., p. 207- EARL OF PEMBROKE AND MONTGOMERY. 271 as the Earl was never a viscount, and as he was knighted in 1604, and made an earl in 1605, long previous to this disgraceful affray, we might have been inclined to dis- credit the whole account, had it not been confidently related by other authors.* Butler, in one of his amusing burlesques of the Earl's parliamentary speeches, makes him, at a later period of his life, thus allude to the dis- grace of his youth : " For my part, I'll have nothing to do with them. I cannot abide a Scot, for a Scot switched me once, and cracked my crown with my own staff, the virge of uiy Lord Chamberlainship, and now they are all coming to switch you too." It is reported of Montgomery that he was so illiterate that he could scarcely write his own name ; f and yet we constantly find him giving his opinion on matters of taste, and affecting to extend his patronage to genius. We must remember, however, that to be considered a patron of literature was formerly held to be a requi- site ingredient in the fashionable character, and was aimed at by every illiterate Maecenas about the Court- The titled coxcomb sauntered into his levee, at which the Avretched author presented his work, and for a false and fulsome panegyric received a donation of a few pounds : the latter obtained a dinner, and the former a character for taste and benevolence. Osborne says of Montgomery, that " he was only fit for his own society, and such books as were dedicated to him." On the other hand, it must not be forgotten that it was to Montgomery, conjointly with his brother, Earl William, that Heminge and Condell dedicated the first folio edition of Shakspeare's plays. They are there spoken of as " the most noble and incom- parable pair of brothers, who, having prosecuted these * Sanderson, p. 366 ; Wilson, in Kennett, vol. ii., p. 689. f Athena? Oxon. vol. i., p. 5-16. 272 PHILIP HERBERT, trifles, and their author living, with so much favour, would use a like indulgence towards them which they had done unto their parent." This is such high praise ; and so dear to an Englishman is anything connected with the name of Sbakspeare, that we should be inclined to forgive many faults in one who had been the friend and patron of the immortal dramatist. Some importance, however, must be attached to the Earl's well-known character for vanity, and very little to the suspicious encomiums of a dedication. Montgomery was twice married. In 1630, after the death of his first wife, Lady Susan Vere, he united him- self to Anne, widow of Richard Sackville, Earl of Dorset, and heiress of the Cliffords, Earls of Cumberland. Under what circumstances this religious, munificent, and high- spirited lady united herself to an unprincipled ruffian, we are not informed. It is certain, however, that their marriage was not happy; and as the Earl's profligacy kept pace with advancing years, she was eventually compelled to insist on a separation.* The Countess, who survived him many years, is probably best known by her famous letter to Sir Joseph Williamson, Secretary of State to Charles II., when he applied to her to nominate a member of Parliament for the borough of Appleby : " I have been bullied by a usurper, I have been neglected by a court, but I will not be dictated to by a subject : your man sha'nt stand. " ANN DORSET, PEMBROKE AND MONTGOMERY." Had Montgomery contented himself with being a pro- fligate, a gambler, a fool, or a coward had he been * Brydges' Memoirs of the Peers of England, p. 171. EARL OF PEMBROKE AND MONTGOMERY. 273 satisfied with tyrannising over his wife, or with cudgelling, or being cudgelled, he would have avoided in a great degree the obloquy which is attached to his name. But when we find the courtier turning rebel, and becoming an ungrateful apostate to the Prince who had raised him, words are scarcely sufficient to ex- press our indignation and contempt. In 1649, though a peer of England, he sat as member for Berkshire, in the Republican House of Commons, and was subse- quently one of the Council of State after the beheading of King Charles. Butler celebrates the Earl's apostasy with his usual humour. Pembroke's a coyenanting lord, That ne'er with God or man kept word ; One day he'd swear he'd serve the King, The next 'twas quite another thing ; Still changing with the wind and tide, That he might keep the stronger side ; His hawks and hounds were all his care, For them he made his daily pray'r, And scarce would lose a hunting season, Even for the sake of darling treason. Had you but heard what thunderclaps Broke out of his and Oldsworth's chaps, Of oaths and horrid execration, Oft with, but oftener without passion, You'd think these senators were sent From hell to sit in Parliament. This Goth was actually selected by the Parliament to reform the University of Oxford. The speech which he delivered to the Senate of the University on this occasion, was admirably ridiculed in a contemporary pasquinade, of which we cannot refrain from giving an extract. It is just the sort of composition which one would have expected from so silly a man, while it particularly reflects on an inveterate habit of swearing, VOL. I. T 27i PHILIP HERBERT, which is known to have formed another offensive trait in his character.* " MY VISITORS, '' I am glad to see this day ; I hope it will never end, for I am your chancellor. Some say I am not your chancellor, but dam me, they lye, for my brother was so before me, and none but rascals would rob me of my birth-right. They think the Marquis of Hertford is Chancellor of Oxford, because, forsooth, the University chose him. 'Sdeath, I sit here by ordinance of Par- liament, and judge ye, gentlemen, whether he or I look like a chancellor. I'll prove he is a party, for he himself is a scholar ; he has Greek and Latin, but all the world knows I can scarce write or read ; dam me, this writing and reading hath caused all this blood. I thank God, and I thank you ; I thank God I am come at last, and I thank you for giving me a gilded bible : you could not give me a better book, dam me, I think so ; I love the bible, though I seldom use it ; I say I love it, and a man's affection is the best member about him ; I can love it though I cannot read it, as you, Dr. "Wilkinson, love preaching, though you never preach." f If this extract be not sufficient, the reader may turn to the posthumous works of Samuel Butler, the author of Hudibras, who has made himself very merry with the Earl's fantastic oratory. Indeed, so absurd were his speeches, both in the House of Lords and elsewhere, that they became a common joke at the period, and agreeably employed the wits in turning them into lampoons and ridicule. Instead of reforming others, the time was approaching * Athense Oxon., vol. i., p. 546. t "News from Pembroke and Montgomer7." Harl. Misc., vol. vi., p. 134. EARL OF PEMBROKE AND MONTGOMERY. 275 when the Earl might, with more propriety, have thought of reforming himself. He died on the 23rd of January, 1650 ; not quite a year after the master whom he had deserted. He is said to have indulged in a pursuit almost as ridiculous as himself; he collected a vast num- ber of portraits with a view to the study of physiognomy, in which he is stated to have made so great a proficiency, that James, according to Evelyn, in his work on Medals, placing an absurd faith in his discrimination, was believed to have employed him to discover the characters 01 foreign ambassadors on their first appearance at court.* In a scarce lampoon of the period, the following lines are recommended for Montgomery's epitaph : Here lies the mirror of our age for treason, Who, in his life, was void of sense and reason, The Commons' fool, a knave in every thing ; A traitor to his master, lord, and king : A man whose virtues were to whore and swear, God damn him was his constant daily prayer, t * A similar talent is related of the great Prince of Conde. " He was very expert in a sort of physiognomy which showed the peculiar habits, motions, and pastimes of familiar life and mechanical employ- ments. He would sometimes lay wagers with his friends, that he would guess, upon the Pont Neuf, what trade persons were of that passed by, from their walk and air." Curiosities of Literature, p. 53. Ed. 1839. + "The Life and Death of Philip Herbert, the late infamous Knight of Berkshire, once Earl of Pembroke ; likewise a Discourse with Charon on his Voyage to Hell." 1649, in verse. T 2 270 JAMES HAY, EARL OF CARLISLE. Introduction of this Personage to King James His rapid Rise in the Monarch's Favour His Elevation to the Peerage Family Tra- ditions The Earl's Magnificence Splendour of his Mission to Paris His Costly Progress to Germany Dinner provided for him by the Prince of Orange His unsuccessful Missions His Extravagance in Costume Prodigality of his Feasts Ante-suppers Banquet given by the Earl in honour of the French Ambassador First and Second Marriage of the Earl His ruling Passion in Death His Character. THIS magnificent personage, who shared so largely both the royal favour and the public purse, was the son of a private gentleman in Scotland. He was educated in Prance, and is said to have belonged to the famous Scottish guard, which was formerly maintained by the French monarch.* At the accession of James he hastened over to England, trusting that his showy person and foreign accomplishments would obtain for him those substantial favours, which most of his country- men expected, and which so many obtained. He is said to have been introduced to James by the French Ambassador.f His rise was rapid, and not altogether undeserved. The elegance of his manners, his taste for dress and splendour, and a natural sweetness of temper, quickly * Weldon, p. 17. Lord Clarendon says, "He came into England with King James ;" but this account appears to be incorrect Hist, of the Rebellion, vol. L, i>. 108. t Weldon, p. 17. JAMES HAY, EARL OF CARLISLE. 277 rendered him a favourite, not only with the King, but with his courtiers. Few have had wealth and honours more quickly showered upon them ; and, with the excep- tion of profuse expenditure, few have borne the smiles of fortune with more modesty and discretion. He shunned politics, which would have made him enemies ; and, by his unaffected courtesy and extensive hospitality, obtained the good will of those who might otherwise have been his rivals. Though positive talent must be denied him, he possessed a strong sense and a natural tact, which to a courtier are far more valuable than genius itself. He understood the King's character more thoroughly than any other man, and had sufficient shrewdness to perform, at least with credit, the various embassies with which he was afterwards entrusted. "Wilson says of him : " He was a gentleman every way complete. His bounty was adorned with courtesy, his courtesy not affected, but resulting from a natural civility in him. His humbleness set him below the envy of most, and his bounty brought him into esteem with many." * He was raised to the peerage in June, 1615, by the title of Lord Hay of Sawley, but without the issue of letters-patent, or a seat in the House of Lords or Scottish Parliament: he was also merely allowed pre- cedence after the Barons of Scotland. This singular * Lord Clarendon says of this favourite, he was a "person well qualified by his breeding in France, and by study in human learning, in which he bore a good part in the entertainment of the King, who much delighted in that exercise ; and by these means and notable graceful- ness in his behaviour and affability, in which he excelled, he had wrought himself into a particular interest with his master and into greater affection and esteem with the whole English nation, than any other of that country" [Scotland]. Hist, of ike Rebellion, voL i., p. 108. 278 JAMES HAY, kind of elevation would almost appear to have originated in a freak of King James ; for the creation, we are informed, took place in the presence of witnesses, at nine o'clock at night at Greenwich.* In 1618, he was created Viscount Doncaster, and in 1622, Earl of Carlisle. He also obtained a grant of the Island of Barbadoes, and became a Knight of the Garter. According to an old writer, King James, in his advancement of this favourite, merely repaid a debt which the royal family of Scotland had long owed to the Hays. " One Hay, his ancestor," writes Lloyd, " saved Scotland from an army of Danes, at Longcarty, with a yoke in his hand.f James Hay, six hundred years after, saved the King of that country from the Gowries at their house, with a cutter in his hand : the first had as much ground assigned him by King Kenneth as a falcon could fly over at one flight, and the other as much land as he could ride round in two days." Lloyd also informs us, that the whole family fell, in former days, before Dublin Castle ; and that the race would have been extinct for ever, but for a successful Csesarean operation, which preserved the heir. To this circumstance, if it be true, the present Earl of Kinnoul, whose ancestor was the cousin and heir of James Hay, must be indebted for his existence and honours. In the splendour of his embassies, the magnificence of his entertainments, and the excessive costliness of his dress, and other personal luxuries, the Earl, at least in this country, has never been surpassed. In 1616, he was sent to Paris, to congratulate the King of France on * Camden's Annals in Kennett, vol. ii., p. 644. t Lloyd's editor, Whitworth, informs us, that in consequence of this act of valour the yoke is the Hay's supporter. State Worthies, vol. ii., p. 60. EARL OF CARLISLE. 279 his marriage with the Infanta of Spain ; being furnished, at the same time, with some private instructions regarding the feasibility and advantages of a match between Prince Charles and a daughter of France. Nothing could exceed the magnificence of this celebrated mission, and conse- quently, on the first day of his appearance at court, the whole of Paris turned forth, as the spectators of English splendour. The heart of old Wilson warms as he describes the scene : " Six trumpeters," he says, " and two marshals (in tawny velvet liveries, completely suited, laced all over with gold, rich and closely laid) led the way ; the Ambassador followed with a great train of pages ; and footmen in the same rich livery, including his horse and the rest of his retinue, according to their qualities and degrees, in as much bravery as they could desire or procure, followed in couples, to the wonderment of the beholders. And some said (how truly I cannot assert) the Ambassador's horse was shod with silver shoes, lightly tacked on ; and when he came to a place where persons or beauties of eminence were, his very horse, prancing and curvetting, in humble reverence flung his shoes away, which the greedy bystanders scrambled for, and he was content to be gazed on and admired till a farrier, or rather the arrjcntier, in one of his rich liveries, among his train of footmen, out of a tawney velvet bag took others and tacked them on, which lasted till he came to the next troop of grandees ; and thus, with much ado, he reached the Louvre." * In 1619, he was sent Ambassador to Germany, with a view of mediating between the Emperor and the Bohe- mians. His progress to the Northern court, in which he was attended by the choicest of the young nobility of England, was scarcely less magnificent than hia former * Wilson, p. 94. 280 JAMES HAY, mission to the French King. The expenses of his two first meals, on landing at Rotterdam, amounted to a thousand guilders, about a hundred pounds sterling, while his carriages are said to have cost no less than sixty pounds a day. A singular instance of his munifi- cence is recorded during this mission. An innkeeper of Dort, having calculated that the Ambassador must pass through that town, had made sumptuous preparations for his entertainment. The Earl, however, had chosen Utrecht for his route, and the zealous innkeeper was consequently disappointed. The latter followed the embassy, introduced himself to the Ambassador, and complained of the loss which he had sustained. The Earl immediately gave him an order on his steward for thirty pounds.* Wilson informs us, that the King was ashamed to tell the Parliament how much money this embassy had cost, and therefore " minced the sum into a small proportion." James, it may be remarked, in his speech to Parliament, in 1620, observes that "my Lord of Doncaster's journey had cost him three thousand five hundred pounds,' ' when it would appear from Wilson that the expenses could not have amounted to less than fifty or sixty thousand. The Earl's magnificence, however, failed at least on. one occasion in exciting all the admiration he desired. In his progress to Germany, it was necessary that he should pay a visit of ceremony to the Prince of Orange, It was no less imperative on the Prince to invite him to< dinner, and accordingly it was hinted to his Highness, that for the entertainment of so splendid a guest, some addition to the usual fare would be requisite and proper. The Prince, whose homely habits led him to despise the- * Lloyd's Worthies, vol. ii., p. 61 ; "Wilson, p. 153. EARL OF CARLISLE. 281 costly refinements of his expected guest, was, perhaps, not unwilling to have an opportunity of exhibiting his contempt. Accordingly, he called for the bill of fare, and observing that only one pig was nominated in the bill, commanded the steward to put down another, the only addition which he could be prevailed upon to make. Besides the general homeliness of such an entertainment, it is necessary, in order to give point to the story, to include a remark of Wilson's, " that this dish is not very pleasing to the Scotch nation for the most part." In 1621, the Earl was again sent to France, in order to mediate between Louis XIII. and the French Protestants : he was also at Madrid during the matri- monial visit of Prince Charles, and corresponded with King James ; but that he was employed officially is not probable. It may be here remarked, that, notwithstand- ing the Earl's talents for diplomacy were at least respectable, not one of his three missions was attended with success. His splendid folly with regard to costume, even Lord Ckrendon has condescended to mention. " He was surely,'' says his Lordship, " a man of the greatest expense in his own person, of any in the age he lived ; and introduced more of that expense in the excess of clothes and diet, than any other man ; and was, indeed, the original of all those inventions, from which others did but transcribe copies." Arthur Wilson tell us, that " one of the meanest of his suits was so fine as to look like romance." This particular dress the historian himself saw, and thus describes : " The cloak and hose were made of very fine white beaver, embroidered richly all over with gold and silver ; the cloak, almost to the cape, within and without, having no lining but embroidery ; the doublet was cloth of gold, embroidered so thick that it 282 JAMES HAY, could not be discerned ; and a white beaver hat suitable, brimful of embroidery, both above and below." But it was in his feasts and entertainments that his extravagant prodigality shone most conspicuously. Like the Emperor Heliogabalus, he seems to have thought that what was cheaply obtained was scarcely worth eating. Since the days when that purpled profligate smothered his guests in rooms filled with roses, more fantastic hospitality can hardly be recorded. Osborne's account of one of the Earl's banquets is too curious not to be inserted in his own words : " The Earl of Carlisle was one of the quorum, that brought in the vanity of ante-suppers, not heard of in our fore-fathers' time, and for aught I have read, or at least remember, unpractised by the most luxurious tyrants. The manner of which was to have the board covered, at the first entrance of the guests, with dishes, as high as a tall man could well reach, and dearest viands sea or land could afford : and all this once seen, and having feasted the eyes of the invited, was in a manner thrown away, and fresh set on the same height, having only this advantage of the other, that it was hot. I cannot forget one of the attendants of the King, that, at a feast made by this monster of excess, eat to his single share a whole pye, reckoned to my Lord at ten pounds, being composed of ambergrease, mages- terial of pearl, musk, &c. ; yet was so far (as he told me) from being sweet in the morning, that he almost poisoned his whole family, flying himself, like the satyr. And yet after such suppers, huge banquets no less pro- fuse, a waiter returning his servant home with a cloak- bag full of dried sweetmeats and comfets, valued to his Lordship at more than ten shillings the pound. I am cloyed with the repetition of this excess, no less than scandalized at the continuance of it." EARL OP CARLISLE. 283 "Weldon mentions another banquet which was given by the Earl in honour of the French Ambassador, "in which," he says, " was such plenty, and fish of that immensity brought out of Muscovy, that dishes were made to -contain them, (no dishes before in all England could near hold them,) after that a costly voydee, and after that a masque of choice noblemen and gentlemen, and after that a most costly and magnificent banquet, the King, Lords, and all the prime gentlemen then about London being invited thither." * These immense fish were probably sturgeon. The necessity of waiting for the manufacture of the dishes could scarcely have improved their flavour. James not satisfied with heaping on his favourite un- bounded wealth, secured for him, by especial mediation, one of the most wealthy heiresses of the period. This lady was Honora, sole daughter of Edward Lord Denny, sub- sequently created, in 1626, Earl of Norwich by Charles the First. The fate of the heiress of the Dennys whether she'died young, or whether she was divorced from her magnificent lord we have failed in our endeavours to trace. It is only certain, that the Earl re-married, 6th November, 1617, Lucy, daughter of Henry, eighth Earl of Northum- berland, a beautiful coquette, whose memoir more properly belongs to the succeeding reign. This North- umberland was the "stout old Earl," who had been fined 30,OOOZ. and committed to the Tower for life, on account of his suspected share in the Gunpowder Treason. He was still a prisoner at the period of his daughter's mar- riage, to which he not only withheld his consent, but afterwards refused to aid them with his purse : nothing, he said, should induce him to give his daughter to " a * Weldon, Aulicus Coquinariae. 284 JAMES HAY, beggarly Scot," or supply them with a groat.* They were married in the presence of the King. The bride- groom shortly afterwards obtained the release of his father-in-law from prison, but even then it was with the greatest difficulty that the independent old Earl could be induced to consent to a meeting.f After the death of James the First, we know little of the history of his gorgeous favourite. That he was not, however, entirely overlooked, is evident from his having been made first gentleman of the bedchamber to Charles the First, in 1633.J He died on the 25th of April, 1636, the ruling passion of his life still strong even in death : " "When the most able physicians," says Osborne, "and his own weakness had passed a judgment that he could not live many days, he did not forbear his entertainments, but made divers brave clothes, as he said, to out-face naked and despicable death withal." The progress of the Earl's last illness is more than once referred to by Garrard, in his letters to Lord Strafford. On the 15th of March he writes, " Sunday night last, the 13th of this month, my Lord of Carlisle was dying, his speech gone, his eyes dark; he knew none about him, but in two or three hours he came out of this trance, and came to his senses again. Now he thinks he shall die, which before he did not, and is well prepared for it, having assistance from the best divines in town. His debts are great, above 80,OOOZ. He has left his lady well near * Aulicus Coquin. in Seer. Hist, of James I., vol. ii., p. 161. t Wilson, p. 130; Clarendon, vol. iii., p. 552. J Clarendon, vol. iii., p. 140. It appears strange at first sight that Carlisle, who was a peer, should have been made a gentleman of the bedchamber. We find, however, that as late as George I. the Duke of Hamilton was merely styled First Gentleman, as was also the Duke of Lauderdale in the reign of Charles II. Formerly the title of gentleman implied, in its strictest sense, nobility. EARL OF CARLISLE. 285 5000Z. a-year, the import of the wines in Ireland, for which they say she may have 20,OOOZ. ready money, and 20001. pension, newly confirmed to her by the King : little or nothing comes to his son. The physicians keep him alive with cordials, but they are of opinion that he cannot last many days." * His funeral, probably according to his own directions, was magnificent. Lodge remarks, that "notwithstanding his expensive absurdities, the Earl left a very large fortune, partly derived from his marriage with the heiress of the Lords Denny, but more from the King's unlimited bounty." The fact, though not of much importance, scarcely ap- pears to be corroborated by contemporary writers. Lord Clarendon says especially, that he left neither " a house nor an acre of land to be remembered by," and yet both Clarendon and "Weldon estimate the sums heaped on him by James, as amounting to four hundred thousand, pounds. "With all his faults with all his folly and boundless expenditure, the spendthrift Earl has still some claims to have his memory regarded with favour. Civility and common sense preserved him from the fate of Somerset and of Buckingham. He was modest, generous, and hospitable, neither depressed by adversity nor elated by prosperity. Sir William Davenant says of him, in a copy of verses addressed to his widow, Cheerful his age, not tedious or severe, Like those, who being dull, would grave appear. If he spent largely, it was agreeably with the tastes and wishes of his sovereign ; and if we are compelled to look upon him as a voluptuary, he was a sensualist without being selfish, and a courtier without being insolent. * Stafford Letters, vol. i., p. 525. 286 FBANCIS LORD BACON, VISCOUNT ST. ALBANS. Bacon's Birth His Boyhood His Oratory His Friends Hobbes of Malmsbury Variety of Bacon's Knowledge His Superb Manner of Living His Venality Dishonesty of his Servants His Humiliation before his Peers His Ketort to Gondomar Remark of Charles, Prince of Wales Bacon's Ingratitude to the Earl of Essex False Aspersions cast on his Name His Comparative Poverty Anecdotes His personal Appearance Anecdotes- Celebration of Bacon's Sixtieth Birth-day Ben Jonson's Verses on the Occasion Bacon's Death HowelTs Remarks on the Event. THE story of Lord Bacon's life is so well known, as to render any lengthened details respecting him unnecessary. We will content ourselves therefore with introducing some scattered anecdotes relating to an extraordinary man, over whose mighty mind and corrupt heart the Christian lingers with sorrow, the moralist with wonder, and the world at large with regret; a man whom it is now difficult to praise, yet whom, but for some lamentable weaknesses, it would have been almost as difficult not to idolise : If parts allure thee, think how Bacon shined, The wisest, brightest, meanest of mankind. Francis Lord Bacon was the son of Sir Nicholas Bacon, Keeper of the Great Seal to Queen Elizabeth, and of Anne, daughter of Sir Anthony Cooke, tutor to King Edward the Sixth : this lady has been extolled by her contemporaries for her piety and mental accomplishments- FRANCIS LORD BACON, VISCOUNT ST. ALBANS. 28? Bacon was born January 22nd, 1561, at York House in the Strand, formerly the residence of the Bishops of Norwich, and afterwards of the Yilliers, Dukes of Buckingham. Lloyd says, that " he was a courtier from his cradle to his grave, sucking in experience with his milk, being inured to policy as early as to his grammar." When a boy, Queen Elizabeth took much notice of him, admired his ingenious answers, and, alluding to the post held by his father, used to style him familiarly lier young Lord Keeper.* She once inquired the age of the gifted boy, to which he replied readily, that " he was two years younger than her Majesty's happy reign." f It was remarked by the famous Earl of Salisbury, that Raleigh was a good orator though a bad writer ; Northampton a good writer, though a bad orator ; but that Bacon excelled in both. Howell, who must have often listened to his oratory, speaks of him as " the eloquentest that was born in this isle." His conversation is described as having been eminently fascinating ; possessing, as he did, the power of adapting himself to every sort of company, and men of every variety of calling. Cheerful, merry, and a good listener, he delighted in practising an art which he enjoyed to an eminent degree, that of leading a man to talk on the subject in which he was most conversant. His memory was astonishing, yet he argued, according to Lloyd, rather from observation and his own reasonings than from books. He spent four hours every morning in study, during which period he never allowed himself to be interrupted. Ben Jonson and Eichard Earl of Dorset were among * Lives of the Chancellors, vol. i., p. 98 ; State Worthies, vol. ii., p. 113. + Fuller's Worthies, vol. ii., p. 110. 288 FRANCIS LORD BACOX, the number of his friends. The latter was so great an. admirer of his genius, that, according to Aubrey, he employed Sir Thomas Billingsley (the celebrated horse- man) to "write down whatever fell from the lips of the great philosopher in his social discourse. Lord Bacon liked to compose in his garden, accompanied either by a friend or amanuensis, who instantly committed his thoughts to paper. Among others whom he thus employed was Thomas Hobbes, of Malmsbury. Aubrey informs us that this person was so beloved by his lord, that he " was wont to have him walk with him in his delicate groves when he did meditate, and when a notion darted into his mind Mr. Hobbes was presently to write it down ; and his lord was wont to say, that he did it better than any one else about him, for that many times, when he read their notes, he scarce understood what they writ, because they understood it not clearly themselves." His information on all subjects was astonishing. " I have heard him," says Osborne, in his Advice to his Son, " entertain a country lord in the proper terms re- lating to hawks and dogs ; and at another time out-cant a London chirurgeon." Of money, he said, it was like manure, of no use till it was spread. Sometimes he would have music in the room adjoining that in which he composed. He was also accustomed to drink strong beer before going to bed ; in order, we are told, " to lay his working fancy asleep, which otherwise would keep him waking a great part of the night." * Sir Edward Coke, though he affected to undervalue him as a lawyer, appears to have been envious of his talent. We are assured by Lloyd, though we freely confess our incredulity on the subject, that Bacon always fainted at an eclipse of the moon. * Aubrey, Letters of Eminent Men, vol. ii., p. 226. VISCOUNT ST. ALBANS. 2SD Ilis manner of living was superb in the extreme, especially during the period when he was left Eegent of the kingdom, in the absence of King James in Scotland, when he gave audiences to the Foreign Ambassadors, in the Banquetting-house at Whitehall, almost with regal splendour. Aubrey says: "The aviary at York-house was built by his lordship, and cost 300Z. Every meal, according to the season of the year, he had his table strewed with sweet herbs and flowers, which he said did refresh his spirits and memory. "When he was at his country-house at Gorhambury, St. Albans seemed as if the court had been there, so nobly did he live. His servants had liveries with his crest ; his watermen were more employed by gentlemen than even the King's. King James sent a buck to him, and he gave the keeper .502." Ho well, in his letters, mentions a similar instance of his liberality, on his receiving a buck from one of the roj'al domains. He sent for the under-keeper who had brought the present, and " having drunk the King's health unto him in a great silver gilt bowl," gave it to him as his fee. In a venal age, some excuse may be made for the dis- honest statesman or corrupt judge, on the ground that their malpractices are sanctioned by precedent, and by the examples set them by the greater number of their contemporaries. But Lord Bacon, not satisfied with common venality, occasionally sold his decisions to loth parties. Sir Symonds d'Ewes, indeed, says, that if he was the instrument of mischief, it was rather from those alout him than his own nature, " which his very counten- ance promised to be affable and gentle." That this great dispenser of justice was duped in the grossest manner by his own servants, there can be no doubt : these people, we are told, robbing him at the bottom of the table, VOL. r. u 290 FRANCIS LORD BACO.V, while he himself sat immersed in philosophical reveries at the upper end. Three of his servants kept their coaches, and more than one maintained a racing estab- lishment. A splendid casket of jewels, presented to him by the East India merchants, was embezzled without bis discovering it, by his own page.* When the fact was mentioned to him, that his servants had actually purloined money from his closet : " Ah ! poor men," he said, " that is their portion." t When he returned home, after the knowledge of his disgrace, his servants, rising, as usual, in the hall to receive him : " Ah ! " he said, " your rise has been my fall." J When they shortly afterwards deserted him, he compared them to vermin which quit a house when their instinct tells them it is about to fall. Howr extraordinary and how humiliating to human nature must have been that scene, when the great philoso- pher stood a cringing suppliant to his peers, " prostrating himself and sins ; " || craving pardon of God and his fellows, and humbly promising amendment for the future ! When he delivered the great seal to the four peers who had been commissioned to receive it : " It was the King's favour," he said, "that gave me this: and it is through my own fault that he has taken it away." When the instrument was delivered to James, he muttered some words respecting his difficulty in selecting a successor " As to my lawyers," he said, " they are all knaves." ^[ Gondomar, the Spanish Ambassador, happening to * Aubrey, voL ii.. pp. 224, 226. t Lloyd's Worthies, vol. ii., p. 125 ; Lives of the Chancellors, vol. i., p. 100. + Lloyd's Worthies, vol. ii., p. 124. Aubrey, vol. ii., p. 225. II Aulicus Coquin. in Secret History of James I. vol. ii., p. 267. IT Journal of Sir S. D'Ewes, p. 24. VISCOUXT ST. ALBANS. 291 encounter him after his fall, wished him ironically, a merry Easter ! " And to you, signior," replied Bacon. "I wish a merry Pass-over!" The reply, it must be remembered, not only comprehended a wish that the Ambassador were well out of the kingdom, but alluded to his supposed Jewish origin, the greatest insult which could have been offered to a Spaniard.* Charles the First, at that time Prince ot Wales, chanced also to meet Bacon in his coach shortly after his fall. The disgraced Chancellor was retiring to the seclu- sion of his own house at Gorhambury, but accompanied with a train of horsemen, such as would have done honour to him in his prouder days. " Do all we can," remarked the Prince, " this man scorns to go out like the snuff of a candle." f "We should be more inclined to regard with something like leniency the gross corruption of this eminent man, but for his infamous ingratitude to his kiudest, staunchest, and most disinterested friend, the unfortunate Earl of Essex : his treatment of that unhappy nobleman would have been disgraceful in a savage. That many false aspersions, however, have been cast on his character, cannot be denied. Among others may be mentioned a story of Sir Anthony Weldon's, whose remarks are as scurrilous as his tale is undoubtedly exaggerated. A misunderstanding, he informs us, happened to exist between the Chancellor and the Duke of Buckingham, the former, being desirous of obtaining an interview with the favourite, was kept waiting, during two successive days, in an apartment appropriated to the lowest menials in the Duke's household. Weldon affirms, that he himself saw him in this situation, seated on a * Aulicus Coquin. in Secret History of James L TO!, ii., p. 268. t t'Ml. u 2 292 FRANCIS LORD BACOX, wooden chest, with the Chancellor's purse and seal lying beside him ; and that he subsequently discovered from one of the servants that this indignity was imposed by the express orders of the Duke. He adds, that when the Chancellor was at length admitted into the presence of Buckingham, he threw himself prostrate on the ground and kissed the Duke's feet. Judging from what we know of Lord Bacon's character, and especially from his letters to Buckingham, there is certainly no circum- stance which tends in any way to support the charge of Weldon, either of such gross subserviency on the one hand, or so much insolence on the other. Bacon's manly and beautiful letter of advice to Buckingham, on his first coming into power, is alone sufficient to rescue him from the absurd aspersions of a prejudiced scandal-monger. Although the loss of power and place, as well as the debts which he had incurred while in power, reduced him to a state of comparative poverty, the stories which are related of his having been in actual distress are no doubt considerably exaggerated. Wilson informs us that, after his disgrace, he lived in obscurity in his house in Gray's Inn, and was in want to the last. The same writer embellishes his narrative with a curious tale. The beer, he informs us, in Lord Bacon's house being of a very bad quality, he occasionally sent to Sir Fulk Greville, (Lord Brooke,) who resided in the neighbourhood,* for a bottle of his lordship's beer. This boon, after con- siderable grumbling, the butler had at last positive orders to deny : " so sordid," adds Wilson, " was the man who had advanced himself to be called the friend of * Brooke Street and Greville Street, Holborn, point out the site of Brooke House. Lord Brooke was assassinated in this house by his own servant, on the 1st of September, 1628. VISCOUNT ST. ALBAXS. 293 Sir Philip Sidney, and so friendless was the other after he had fallen from his high estate ! " * The degradation of this wonderful genius, while it distressed the good and gratified the evil, could even afford merriment to the wretched punsters of the age. Alluding alike to his misconduct and his poverty, his titles of Verulam and St. Albans were easily converted into Very-lame and St. All-bones.f In the height of his distress, his neighbours in the country good-naturedly came forward, and offered to purchase an oak-wood on his property. " No," said Lord Bacon, " I will not sell my feathers." Park has rescued from obscurity a copy of verses of no slight merit, the production of some philosophical poet of former days, who thus laments over the downfall of a great man : Dazzled thus with height of place, While our hopes our wits beguile, No man marks the narrow space 'Twixt a prison and a smile. Then, since Fortune's favours fade, You that in her arms do sleep, Learn to swim and not to wade, For the hearts of kings are deep. But if greatness be so blind As to trust in towers of air ; Let it be with goodness lined, That at least the fall be fair. * Wilson, p. 160. It was Lord Brooke's chief ambition to be regarded as the friend of Sir Philip Sidney ; indeed, he directed the circumstance to be recorded on his tombstone. t Journal of Sir Symonds D'Ewes, p. 18. J Aubrey, Letters of Eminent Men, vol. ii., p. 224. 294 FRANCIS LORD BACON, Then, though darken'd, you shall say, When friends fall off, and princes frown ; Virtue is the roughest way, But proves at night a bed of down.* Lord Bacon was himself a poet. Those who may be curious to see him in this light, will find some specimens of his muse in Park's " Noble Authors," and also in Aubrey's " Letters of Eminent Men." "Wilson describes Lord Bacon as of a middling stature, his " presence grave and comely ; " but adds that he early wore the appearance of old age. Aubrey says, " he had a delicate, lively, hazel eye : Dr. Harvey told me it was like the eye of a viper." The same writer relates one or two characteristic anecdotes of this extraordinary man. He was once watching some fishermen from his garden at York House, when it occurred to him to offer them a certain sum for the results of their draught, but which they refused, considering it insufficient. On drawing up their net they found that it only contained two or three small fish. Lord Bacon told them they had better have accepted his offer. The men replied that they had hoped for better success. " Hope," said his lordship, " is a good breakfast, but a bad supper." According to Aubrey, none of his servants dared to appear before him except in boots of Spanish leather : he could always detect common leather, which was extremely offensive to his nerves. When the Bishop of London cut down some fine trees at the Episcopal Palace at Fulham, Bacon told him that he was a good expounder of dark places. When some person hinted to him" that it "was time to look about him, "Sir," was his reply, "I do not look about me ; I look above me." * Royal and Noble Authors, voL it., p. 200. VISCOUNT ST. ALBANS. 295 King James, says Howcll, once asked his opinion of a French Ambassador who had recently arrived. Bacon replied that he thought him a tall well-looking man. " But what do you think of his head-piece? " asked the King. " Sir," said Bacon, " tall men are like houses of four or five stories, wherein, commonly, the uppermost room is worst furnished." I do not know whether this was the same French Ambassador, who told Lord Bacon, on their first introduction, that he had always compared him to an angel, of whom he had heard and read much, but had never seen. Bacon replied modestly, that " if the charity of others compared him to an angel, his own infirmities told him that he was a man." * If Bacon can at all be compared to an angel, it must certainly be to si fallen one. In January, 1G20, being then in the commencement of his sixtieth year, we find him keeping his birthday with considerable magnificence at York House, the scene of his early life, and his favourite residence in the days of liis greatness. His old friend, Ben Jonson, celebrated the occasion with his vigorous muse. Though the lines are occasionally harsh, the compliment is felicitously intro- duced. Hail, happy Genius, of this ancient pile ! How comes it all things so about thee smile ? The fire, the wine, the men ? and in the midst Thou stand' st, as if some mystery thou didst ! Pardon, I read it in thy face, the day For whose returns, and many, all these pray : And so do I. This is the sixtieth year Since Bacon, and thy Lord, was born and here ; Son to the grave, wise Keeper of the Seal, Fame and foundation of the English weal. What then his father was, that since is he, Now with a little more to the degree. * Biog. Brit. Kippis, vol. i., p. 489. 290 PEANCIS LORD BACON, England's High Chancellor, the destined heir In his soft cradle to his father's chair, Whose even thread the Fates spin round and full, Out of their choicest and their whitest wool. "Pis a brave cause of joy, let it he known, For 'twere a narrow gladness, kept thine own. Give me a deep-crowned bowl, that I may sing, In raising him the wisdom of my King. Disappointed in his repeated endeavours to return to place and power, Lord Bacon at length determined to devote the close of life to the pursuit of literature and science. Aubrey informs us, on the authority of Thomas Hobbes, that he owed his death to his indiscreet eagerness in pursuing a philosophical experiment. It had occurred to him that flesh might be preserved as well in snow as in salt. The snow at the time lying thick on the ground, he resolved to make the experiment ; but " staid so long in doing it," that he was seized with a shivering fit, and was obliged to be carried to Lord Arundel's house at Highgate. Unfortunately he was placed in a damp bed, by which his disorder was so much aggravated that he died in a few days. His death took place on the 9th of April, 1G26. Con- formably with his own wishes, he was buried, near the remains of his mother, in St. Michael's Church, St. Albans, the only place of worship in the ancient Verulum. His secretary, Sir Thomas Meautys, erected over him a fine monument and bust of white marble, to which Sir Henry Wotton supplied the inscription.* Howell writes to Dr. Prichard, " My Lord Chancellor Bacon is lately dead of a languishing weakness ; he died so poor, that he scarce * A few years since the bust was carried off in the night through the chancel window, and the next morning was found broken in the church yard. It is supposed, that the thief, finding the weight too great for him, had been compelled to relinquish his booty. VISCOUNT ST. ALBANS. 297 left money to bury him ; which, though he had a great wit, did argue no great wisdom, it being one of the essen- tial properties of a wise man to provide for the main chance. I have read, that it hath been the fortune of all poets commonly to die beggars ; but for an orator, a lawyer, and a philosopher, as he was, to die so, is rare It seems the same fate befel him that attended Demos- thenes, Seneca, and Cicero (all great men), of whom the two first fell by corruption. The fairest diamond may have a flaw in it ; but I believe lie died poor out of a con- tempt of the pelf of fortune, as also out of an excess of generosity" It may be remarked that the number and value of the legacies which he bequeathed by his last will, has led to a disbelief of Bacon's poverty. Dr. Lingard, however, justly observes, that " as his executors refused to act, it may induce a suspicion that he left not where- with to pay them." It is now known that he died insolvent. ~Koi many years after the death of Bacon his grave was opened, and one King, a physician, became possessed of his skull. Fuller tells us that this remarkable relic was treated by King with "derision and scorn;" but the man, he adds, who " then derided the dead, is since become the laughing-stock of the living." Lord Bacon is described as having endured adversity with as little moderation as he had borne prosperity ; and as having exhibited the same mean-spirited subserviency in his intercourse with the great, which had formerly distinguished his attempts to rise to power in the days of Elizabeth, and his efforts to retain it in the reign of James. To this accusation, his letters to King James, after his fall, certainly attach no slight weight. In an, appeal which he addressed to Prince Charles, there was a passage which had more wit than reverence; 298 FRANCIS LORD BACON, VISCOUNT ST. ALBANS. he said that, "as the father had been his creator, he hoped the son would be his Redeemer." * The name of Verulam Buildings, Gray's Inn Lane, still points out the spot where one of the residences of Bacon once stood. * HowelTs Letters, p. 186. 09 EDWARD LORD HERBERT OP CHERBURY. Autobiography of this Nobleman He is sent Ambassador to Paris Created Lord Herbert His Marriage His first Appearance before Queen Elizabeth He is invested with the Order of the Bath Spirit of Knight-errantry in the days of James : Anecdotes Quarrel between Lord Herbert and the Constable de Luines Herbert's personal Appearance His Poetry Contradictions in his Character Extraordinary Instance of Vanity and Inconsistency His last Illness and serene Death Horace Walpole's Estimate of his Character. THE life of Lord Herbert of Cherbury, written by himself, is one of the most curious works of the kind that has ever issued from the press. Who can read without delight a narrative, and such a narrative too, of the private foibles and most secret thoughts of the soldier, the statesman, the wit, and the philosopher. That he was truth itself is undoubted ; and if his vanity sometimes occasions a smile, we must bear in mind the peculiar features of the period in which he lived. We must remember that chivalry was not then extinct, and that the smiles of beauty and the honours of battle were con- sidered as indispensable in conferring not only reputa- tion, but respect. Gifted by nature with wit, beauty, and talent, and possessing courage almost amounting to a fault, can we wonder, that in a martial and romantic age Lord Herbert should have engaged the hearts of women, almost as universally as he won for himself the respect 300 LORD HERBERT of men. If be speaks somewhat ostentatiously of his own merits, at least with equal candour he lays open to us his faults. His literary reputation is so well established, that comment would be tiresome, and praise superfluous. Lord Herbert was born in 1581. According to Anthony Wood, his birth-plnce was " a most pleasant and romantic spot in Wales, called Montgomery Castle, the seat of his father, Ki chard Herbert."* At the age of fourteen he was entered at University College, Oxford, from whence he proceeded on his travels. On the 28th of Feb- ruary, 1598, when only seventeen, he was married to a daughter of Sir William Herbert, of St. Gillian's. The match seems to have been one of convenience ; the ladv, among other circumstances, being six years older than himself't -At the coronation of James the First, he was made a Knight of the Bath, and in 1G16 was sent Ambas- sador to Paris, principally for the purpose of interceding for the French Protestants. He held this important post for five years, when his famous quarrel with the Constable Luines led to his recall. In 1625 he was created by James I. Baron Herbert, of Castle Island, in Ireland; and in 1629, Lord Herbert of Cherbury, in Shropshire, by Charles the First. Lord Herbert made his first appearance in London in Ins nineteenth year. " Curiosity," he says, " rather than ambition, brought me to Court : and as it was the manner of those times for all men to kneel down before the great Queen Elizabeth, who then reigned, I was likewise upon my knees in the Presence Chamber, when she passed by to the Chapel at Whitehall. As soon as she saw me, she stopped ; * This is a mistake. Lord Herbert himself informs ns that he was born at Eyton, in Shropshire, the residence of his mother's family the Newports. Life of Himself , p. 1*3. t Life of Lord Herbert of Cherbury, by himself, p. 26. Of CHERBURY. 301 and swearing her usual oath, demanded, who is this? Every- body there present looked upou me, but no man knew me, till Sir James Croft, a Pensioner, finding the Queen stayed, returned back and told who I was, and that I had married Sir AVilliam Herbert of St. Gillian's daughter: the Queen hereupon looked attentively upon me : and swearing again her ordinary oath, said it is pity he was married so young ; and thereupon gave her hand to kiss twice, both times gently clapping me on the cheek." Lord Herbert's account of his being invested with the Order of the Bath, throws a curious light on the manners of the time. The placing the spur upon the right heel was then an important part of the ceremony. His Esquire, he informs us, was standing near him, prepared to perform the office, when the Earl of Shrewsbury him- self kindly approached him : " Cousin," he said, " I believe you will be a good knight, and therefore I will put on your spur; whereupon, after my most humble thanks for -so great a favour, I held up my leg against the wall, and he put on my spur." He then proceeds to describe the nature of the oath which he was called upon to take, " Never," he says, "to sit in a place where injustice shall be done, without righting it to the utmost in my power, and particularly ladies aud gentlemen that shall be wronged in their honour, if they demand assistance, and many other points not unlike the romances of Knight-Errant." " The second day to wear robes of crimson taffeta, and so ride from St. James's to Whitehall with our Esquires, upon the left sleeve whereon is fastened certain strings before us ; and the third clay to wear a gown of purple satin, weaved of white silk and gold tied in a knot, and tassels of the same,* which all the Knights are obliged to wear * Tins custom of fastening a knot or riband of white silk to the left 302 LORD HERBERT until they Lave done something famous in arms, or till some lady of honour take it off, and fasten it on her sleeve, saying, ' I -will answer he shall prove a good knight.' I had not long worn this string but a principal lady of the Court, and certainly in most men's opinions the handsomest, took mine off, and said she would pledge her honour for mine. I do not name this lady ; because some passages happened afterwards which oblige me to silence, though nothing could be justly said to her preju- dice or wrong."* It is curious to discover to how late a period of our history the spirit of knight-errantry descended. A Knight of the Bath at the present day may have achieved the insignia of his order at Waterloo or Trafalgar ; he has won them perhaps by good and brave deeds; but little more is required for the future than the merit of pre- serving them unstained. But, even as late as the days of James, there still existed that Quixotic enthusiasm, and that high standard of honour, which, however we may be disposed to regard them as fantastic, were once practised by the wisest and the best, and threw an undefinable interest over the social relations of former times. Let us see by what obligations a philosopher and historian, such as was Lord Herbert, considered himself bound. The following circumstance occurred during one cf his shoulder of the Knight, is as old as the time of Henry IV., the supposed founder of the order. Froissart says, that at his coronation, that monarch created forty-six Knights, to whom he gave "long green coats, the sleeves whereof were cut straight, and furred with minever, and with great hoods or chaperons furred in the same manner, and after the fashion used by Prelates ; and every one of these Knights on his left shoulder had a double cordon, or string of white silk, to which white tassels were pendent." The appendix to AnstLs' "Observations on the Kniglithood of the Bath," affords a curious picture of the ceremonies of investment, ill the reigu of James I. * Life of Himself, p. 54. OF CHERBU11Y. 303 visits to the Castle of Merlon, the residence of the Con- stable de Montmorency, whither he had been invited by the Constable's daughter, the Duchess de Vantadour. " Passing," he says, " two or three days here, it happened one evening that a daughter of the Duchess, of about ten or eleven years of age, going one evening from the castlo to walk in the meadows, myself, with divers French gentlemen, attended her, and some gentlemen that were witli her : this young lady, wearing a knot of riband on her head, a French cavalier took it suddenly and fastened it to his hat-baud ; the young lady offended herewith, demands her riband, but he refusing to restore it, the young lady addressing herself to me, said, ' Monsieur, I pray get my riband from that gentleman.' Hereupon, going towards him, I courteously, with my hat in my hand, desired him to do me the honour that I may deliver the lady her riband or bouquet again ; but he roughly answering me, ' Do you think I will give it to you, when I have refused it to her?' I replied, 'Nay, then, sir, I will make you restore it by force,' whereupon also, putting on my hat, and reaching at his, he, to save him- self, ran away, and after a long course in the meadow, finding that I had almost overtook him, he turned short, and running to the young lady, was about to put the riband in her hand, when I, seizing upon his arm, said to the young lady, ' It was I that gave it.' ' Pardon me,' quoth she, 'It is he that gives it me.' I then said, ' Madam, I will not contradict you ; but if be dare to say that I did not constrain him to give it, I will fight with him.' The French gentleman answered nothing there- unto for the present, and so conducted the young ladv again to the castle. The next day I desired Mr. Aurelian Townsend to tell the French cavalier that, either he must confess that I constrained him to restore the oC-i LORD HERBERT riband, or fight with me ; but the gentleman seeing him unwilling to accept of this challenge, went out from the place, whereupon I following him, some of the gentlemen that belonged to the Constable, taking notice hereof, acquainted him therewith, who sending for the French cavalier, checked him well fcr his saucitiess in taking the riband away from his grandchild, and afterwards bid him depart his house ; and this was all that I ever heard of the gentleman with whom I proceeded in that manner, because I thought myself obliged thereunto by the oath taken when I was made Knight of the Bath, as I formerly related upon this occasion."* Lord Herbert afterwards mentions another instance of similar gallantry on his part, which occurred in the apart- ments of Anne of Denmark, at Greenwich. A Scotch gentleman had snatched a riband from Miss Middlemore, the Queen's favourite Maid of Honour, who begged Lord Herbert to procure its restitution.f The delinquent refusing to part with it, Lord Herbert seized him by the throat, and had almost succeeded in throwing him down, when they were separated by the bystanders. Their subsequent hostile meeting in Hyde Park was prevented by an injunction of the Lords of the Council. Lord Orford savs of Lord Herbert, that " he returned the insolence of the great Constable Luiues, with the spirit of a gentleman, without committing his dignity of Ambassador." This quarrel is a memorable one. The * Life of Himself, p. 59. + At a later period, we find James I. granting a patent to Mary Middlemore, maid of honour to liis beloved consort Queen Anne, to search for treasure among the ruined abbeys of Glastonbury, Rumsey, and Bury St. Edmunds. The person really intended to be benefited was doubtless the Queen ; but there existed probably many reasons which would have rendered it inexpedient to insert her name in the patent. OF CHERBURY. 305 French King, Louis the Thirteenth, was preparing vigor- ous measures against his Protestant subjects, in whose favour Lord Herbert had been sent to mediate. His instructions were to obtain his end, if possible by peace- able persuasions ; or, should that appear impracticable, to enforce his arguments by threats. Having obtained an interview with the Constable, he explained to him calmly the great interest which the Court of England took in this religious warfare. De Luines inquired rudely by what right the King, his master, interfered in their affairs. " The King, my master," replied the Ambassador, " oweth an account of his reasons to no man ; and, for myself, it is sufficient that I obey him." He added, however, " that if the question were asked in more cour- teous terms, he was willing to satisfy him on the subject." " We will have none of your advices," replied the Constable. " That," said Lord Herbert, " is a sufficient answer ; and I am now charged to inform you, that we know very well what to do." " We do not fear you," said De Luines. " If you had said that you did not love us, I should have believed you," said the Ambassador. " By G ," retorted the Constable, " if you were not an Ambassador I would treat you after another fashion." " If I am an Ambassador," said Lord Herbert, " I am also a gentleman ; and this," laving his hand upon his sword, " shall be my answer." He then rose from his chair and went towards the door, to which De Luines, with a show of civility, offrred to accompany him ; but Lord Herbert told him, that after such language there was no need of ceremony. He remained some days in the town expecting to hear from the Constable ; but instead of a hostile message, he was informed by the Marshal de St. Geran, that having mortally offended the minister, he was in no place of TOL. I. X SOS LORD HERBERT security. "As long as my sword is by my side," said Lord Herbert, " I am in a place of safety." The Con- stable, it seems, for the purpose of laying a formal com- plaint against Lord Herbert, procured his own brother to be sent Ambassador Extraordinary into England, and Lord Herbert was in consequence recalled. On his return to England he obtained an audience of King James ; and having cleared himself from the charges which had been brought against him, requested his Majesty's permission to send a trumpeter to the Constable, challenging him to single combat. The King told him that he would con- sider of it : the Constable shortly afterwards died, and the gallant philosopher returned to Paris.* The strictest respecter of truth may unconsciously give too fair a colouring to a narrative of his own con- duct. Perhaps de Luines was not altogether to blame. Certainly Lord Herbert was a hot-headed man, and Camden even goes so far as to make him the party most to blame, observing pointedly that he treated the Con- stable with irreverence.f Lord Herbert is generally described as a very hand- some man : Aubrey alone, who had been frequently in his society, speaks of him as a " black man : " the whole- length engraving of him, from the original by Oliver, which forms the frontispiece of Dodsley's edition of his Life, affords the same notion of his swarthiness. It may not be generally known, that among his other accomplishments, Lord Herbert was no indifferent poet. There is an elegant copy of verses by him, entitled, AN ODE Upon the Question moved, whether Love should continue for ever ? * Life of Himself, pp. 152157. Eiog. Brit. vol. vi., Supplement, p. 87. O? CHERBURY. 307 The t\ro opening stanzas are very pleasing : Having interr'd lier infant birth, The watery Ground, that late did mourn, Was strew' d with flowers, for the return Of the wish'd bridegroom of the Earth. I'.ie well -accorded birds did sing Their hymns unto the pleasant time ; And, in a sweet consorted chime, Did welcome in the cheerful Spring. They conclude : Oh ! no, beloved ! I am most sure Those virtuous habits we acquire, As being with the soul entire, Must with it evermore endure. Else should our souls in vain elect ; And vainer yet were Heaven's laws, When to an everlasting cause They give a perishing effect. Nor here on earth then, nor above, Our good affection can impair ; For, where God doth admit the fair, Thiuk you that he excludeth Love ? These eyes again thine eyes shall see, i hands again thine hands infold ; And all chaste pleasures can be told, ^ ith us everlasting be : For if no use of sense remain, When bodies once this life forsake, Or they could no delight partake, Why should they ever rise again ? Let then no doubt, Celinda, touch, iluch less your fairest mind invade ; Were not our souls immortal made, Our equal loves can make them such.* 1'ark ; Royal and Noble Authors, voL iii., p. 23. x 2 308 LORD HERBERT There were many contradictions in Lord Herbert's character. "The same man," observes Granger, "was wise and capricious ; redressed wrongs, and quarrelled for punctilios ; hated bigotry in religion, and was himself a bigot to philosophy. He exposed himself to such dangers, as other men of courage would have carefully decliued ; and called in question the fundamentals of a religion, which none had the hardiness to dispute besides himself." His famous philosophical work, De Veritate, was expressly written against revealed religion. ^Vith the publication of this "Work is connected an extraordinary instance of human vanity, and human inconsistency. The same man, whose time and talents had been employed in arguing against the possible existence of miracles, was, neverthe- less, ready to believe that the Divine intentions were com- municated miraculously to himself: in a word, he who discredited a revelation, which comprehended the happi- ness of the whole human race, was, notwithstanding, fully convinced that a miracle was wrought in his own person, and that a preternatural agency was employed to watch over himself, and his own insignificant pursuits. " Being," he says, " in my chamber, one fair day in the summer, my casement being opened towards the south, the sun shining clear, and no wind stirring, I took my book De Yeritate in my hand, and kneeling on my knees, devoutly said these words, ' O thou Eternal God, .Author of the light which now shines upon me, and Giver of all inward illuminations, I do beseech thee, of thy infinite goodness, to pardon a greater request than a sinner ought to make. I am not satisfied enough whether 1 shall publish this book De Veritate ; if it be for thy glory, I beseech thee give me some sign from Heaven; if not, I shall sup- press it.' "I had no sooner spoken these words, but a loud OF CHERBUHY. 309 yet gentle noise came from the heavens (for it was like nothing on earth), which did so comfort and cheer me, that I took my petition as granted, and that I had the sign I demanded, whereupon also I resolved to print my book. This (how strange soever it may seem) I profess before the eternal God is true : neither am I anv way auperotitiously deceived herein, since I did not only clearly hear the noise; but in the serenest sky that ever I saw, being without all cloud, did to my thinking see the place from whence it came," * Lord Herbert was at least a conscientious Deist. According to Aubrey, twice a day he had prayers in his house, and on Sundays a sermon was preached by his chaplain. In his last illness, when he knew himself to be dying, he expressed a wish that Archbishop Usher might be sent for. When it was proposed to him to receive the Sacrament, he said indifferently, that if there was good in anything it was in that, and at all events it could do him no harm. Under the circumstances the Primate refused to administer it, for which he was afterwards much blamed. Lord Herbert died serenely. Shortly before he breathed his last, he inquired the hour, and on receiv- ing a reply, "An hour hence," he said, " I shall depart:" he then turned his face to the opposite side, and shortly afterwards expired.f His death took place in his house in Queen Street, St. Giles's in the Fields, in 1618. In his will, he gave directions that a white horse, to which he was much attached, should be carefully fed and attended to during its life. He also bequeathed a large collection of books to Jesus' College, Oxford. On the 5th of August, 1618, Life of Himself, p. 172. t Aubrey, Letters of Eminent Men, voL ii., p. 387. 310 LOUD HERBERT OF CHEUBTJEY. he was buried in the chancel of St. Giles's Church in the Fields.* " As a soldier," says Horace "YValpole, " he won the esteem of those great captains the Prince of Orange and the Constable de Montmorency; as a Knight, his chivalry was drawn from the purest founts of the 1 Faerie Queene.' Had he been ambitious, the beauty of his person would have carried him as far as any gentle knight can aspire to go. As a public Minister, he sup- ported the dignity of his country, even when its Prince disgraced it ; and that he was qualified to write its annals as well as to ennoble them, the history I have mentioned t proves, and must make us lament that he did not com- plete, or that we have lost the account he purposed to give of his embassy. These busy scenes were blended with, and terminated by, meditation and philosophic inquiries. Strip each period of its excesses and errors, and it will not be easy to trace out or dispose the life of a man of quality into a succession of employments which would better become him. Valour and military activity in youth; business of state in middle age; contemplation and labours for the information of posterity in the calmer scenes of closing life." J Such is the outline of Lord Herbert's character, as sketched by another. He has himself completed the picture by his own curious deli- neation of his private thoughts and secret motives for action ; fom.ing, if not the most perfect, at least one of the most remarkable characters in the gallery of human portraits. * Aubrey, vol. ii., p. 887 ; Athense Oxon. vol. ii., p. 118. The Author has vainly endeavoured to discover a memorial of Lord Herbert's resting-place in St. Giles's Church. f "Life and Keign of Henry VIII." Life of Lord Herbert of Cherbury ; Introduction. Gil ARCHEE, THE COUET FOOL. Use and Importance in former days of the Office of Royal Fool Character of Archibald Armstrong, King Jataes's Jester his witty Sayings his Success at Madrid his Feud with Archbishop Laud his Dismissal from Court his Retirement after his Disgrace his Gallantry. IK clays when the blessings of literature were unknown, and when the Sovereign could scarcely read or write, the royal fool, or jester, must have been a person of no slight importance in dissipating the dulness of a barba- rous court. In the long nights and rainy days he must have been invaluable. At the insipid banquets of royalty, formality and stateliness disappeared before him; he enlivened illiterate boorishness, and gave spirit to flagging conviviality. The guests made him their butt, and he repaid their ridicule with impunity and applause. To the Sovereign his society was almost indispensable. In the presence of his fool the Monarch could unbend and be perfectly at his ease. He could either amuse himself with his buffoonery, or he could vent on him his spleen. Sometimes this singular familiarity appears to have pro- duced a real attachment on the part of the jester. We find him taking advantage of his peculiar licence, and under the mask, and in the language of folly, commu- nicating wholesome and important truths, to which the most powerful noble would scarcely have ventured an allusion. The character of the Court Fool of former days is 312 AUCHEE, THE COURT FOOL. commonly somewhat undervalued. Generally speaking he was a compound of humour, tact, and impudence ; and obtained his title less from being, than from playing, the fool. In many instances, the man who wore a cap and bells, had quite as much sense as the man who was decorated with a coronet. Archibald Armstrong (for such was Archee's real name) was as shrewd, sensible, witty, and good-humoured an individual, as ever filled the high station to which he had been called. In our times he would have probably been famous for conversational pleasantry, or as a writer of facetious fiction. Unfortu- nately his good sayings are now almost entirely lost to the world: the book of "Jests," which bears his name, is too wretched a production to be genuine. The man, who bearded and ridiculed the proudest prelate since the days of "Wolsey, could never have uttered such indifferent nonsense. His conversation with King James, when the latter was weak enough to trust his heir in the Spanish domi- nions, is quite admirable : " I must change caps with your Majesty," said Archee. " "Why ? " inquired the King. " Why, who," replied Archee, "sent the Prince into Spain ? " " But, supposing," returned James, " that the Prince should come safely back again ? " " Why, in that case," said Archee, " I will take my cap from my head, and send it to the King of Spain." * Archee, however tender of the Prince's safety, had no objection to trust his own person among the pleasures of the Spanish capital. Probably he followed in the train, of some of the young courtiers, who hastened to join the Prince in his romantic expedition. His wit and his impudeuce made him as much at home at Madrid as he had formerly been in London. While the Prince could * Coke, vol. L, p. 143 ; Keal's Hist, of the Puritans, 499. ARCHEE, THE COURT FOOL. 313 with difficulty interchange a syllable with his beloved Infanta, Archee was not only admitted into her presence, but became a familiar favourite with the Spanish ladies. " Our cousin, Archee," says Howell, in one of his curious letters from Madrid, " hath more privilege than any, for he often goes with his fool's coat, where the Infanta is with her meninas, and ladies of honour, and keeps a blowing and blustering amongst them, and flirts out what he lists." One day, the subject of conversation was the gallantry of the Duke of Bavaria, who, at the head of an inconsiderable force, had routed a large army of the Palsgrave. The latter being son-in-law to King James, rendered the topic a displeasing one to an Englishman. " I will tell you a stranger circumstance," said Archee ; " is it not more singular that one hundred and forty ships should have sailed from Spain, to attack England, and that not ten of them should have returned to tell what became of the rest ? " * Archee's famous feud with Archbishop Laud must have been productive of considerable amusement to the more mischievous courtiers. He once asked permission to say grace, at a dinner where that dignified prelate was present. On his request being granted: " Great praise," he said, " be to God, and little Laud to the Devil." Osborue says, in his Advice to a Son, " He was not only able to continue the dispute for diverse years, but received such encouragements from the stauders-by, as he hath oft, in my hearing, thrown in his face such miscarriages as he was really guilty of, and might, but for this foul-mouthed Scot, have been forgotten." There is a pamphlet in the British Museum, curious from its scarcity, enti- tled Archee's Dream.f Unfortunately it contains no * Howell's Letters, p. 139. + Arclice's Dream. Sometimes Jester to his Majesty, 1C41. 31-1 ARCBEE, THE COUET FOOL. particulars respecting the history of this remarkable humourist, and is, in fact, little more than a malicious tirade against Laud, during whose imprisonment it wr.s published. There is a poetical postscript, which concludes as follows : His fool's coat now is in far better case, Than he who yesterday had so much grace. Changes of time surely cannot be small, "When Jesters rise, and Archbishops fall. The discomfiture of the Archbishop, when he attempted to introduce the English Liturgy into the Scottish Church, appears to have been highly gratifying to Archee. A stool had been thrown at the clergyman's head who first attempted to read it in St. Giles's Church, Edin- burgh : Archee facetiously called it the stool of repent* ance* The religious commotions which followed excited considerable uneasiness at Court : in the midst of them, Archee happened to encounter the Archbishop on his way to the Council-Chamber. "Ah," said he, "who's the fool now ? " For this, and other insolences, Laud laid a complaint before the King, who was present in Council at the time. When brought before the Council he pleaded the privilege of his cloth; but buffoonery was now out of place, and he was sentenced to be dismissed from, his post. The order, dated Whitehall, llth of March, 1637, is still preserved, ana runs as follows : " It is this day ordered by his Majesty, with the advice of the Board, that Archibald Armstrong, the King's fool, for certain scandalous words of a high nature, spoken by him against the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury, his grace, and proved to be uttered by him by two witnesses, shall have his coat pulled over his head, and be discharged of the King's service, and banished the Court ; for Avhieh * Granger, TO!, iii., p. lil. ARCHEE, THE COURT FOOL. 315 the Lord Chamberlain of the King's household is prayed and required to give order to be executed. And imme- diately the same was put in execution." * The circumstances of Arcliee's dismissal are more fully described by Mr. Garrard, in a letter to the Earl of Strafibrd. He writes, 20th March, 1G37, " Archee is fallen into a great misfortune ; a fool he would be, but a foul-mouthed knave he has proved himself. Being in a tavern in Westminster drunk (he says himself he was speaking of the Scottish business), he fell a railing on my Lord of Canterbury ; said he was a monk, a rogue, and a traitor. Of this his Grace complained at council, the King being present : it was ordered he should be carried to the porter's lodge, his coat pulled over his ears, and kicked out of the Court, never to enter within the gates, and to be called into the Star Chamber. The first part is done, but my Lord of Canterbury hath interceded to the King, that there it should end. There is a new fool in his place, Muckle John, but he will ne'er be so rich, for he cannot abide money." f The writer of the Scout's Discovery, printed in 1642, mentions his falling in with the discarded mountebank about a week after his dismissal. " I met Archee," he says, "at the Abbey all in black. Alas! poor fool, thought I, he mourns for his country. I asked him about his coat. O, quoth he, my Lord of Canterbury hath taken it from me, because either he or some of the Scots bishops may have the use of it themselves ; but he hath given me a black coat for it ; and now I may speak what I please, so it be not against the prelates, for this coat hath a greater privilege than the other had.' ' * Eush worth, Hist. Collections, voL ii., p. 471. t Strafford Letters, vol. ii., p. 154. Morgan's Phoenix Britannicus, p. 462. 316 ARCHEE, THE COURT FOOL. Archee, after his disgrace, retired to the scene of his birth, Arthuret, in Cumberland, where he died at an advanced age in 1G72. The fallen jester seems to have carried with him his court gallantry, inasmuch as the parish register of Arthuret bears record to his admiration for the fair sex. The following notices were extracted from it by Lysons : * " Francis, the base son of Archibald Armstrong, baptised December 17, 1643." " Archibald Armstrong and Sybella Bell, married Jiine 4, 16i6." "Archibald Armstrong, buried April 1st, 1672." It appears by the Strafford Papers, and also by the following lines attached to the portrait which is prefixed to his " Jests," that Archee had contrived to make his fortune before he was disgraced : Archee, by Kings and Princes graced of late, Jested himself into a fair estate ; And, in this book, doth to his friends commend, His jeers, taunts, tales, which no man can offend. He was buried in the church-yard of Arthuret, but there is no memorial there of the burial-place of the Jester. * Lysons' Hist, of Cumberland, p. 13. KONG CHARLES TME FOKST. OB, 1648- 317 CHARLES I. CHAPTER IX. Public Character of Charles the First his Domestic Virtues Political Features of the Period Infancy and Baptism of Charles Pageant on his being created Duke of York his physical Infirmities placed under the tuition of Murray Anecdotes of Charles and Prince Henry Juvenile Letters of Charles created Prince of Wales his Progress in Theological Knowledge his General Accomplishments, and Prowess in Tilting Projected Match between Charlts and Mary of Spaiu Intended journey of Charles to Madrid his Father's Feelings on the subject, and Buckingham's hauhty violence Interview between the King and Sir Francis Cuttiugton Advice of the latter as to Charles's journey to Spain Buckingham's Anger. No monarch could be more disqualified to stem a great political torrent than was Charles the First. Had he been born in a private station he would have adorned it by the purity of his morals, and the refinement of his ta>te ; or, indeed, had he lived at any other period of our history, he would at least have been regarded as an amiable and accomplished, if not as an illustrious Prince. But it was his misfortune to live in troubled and extra- ordinary times. A people had been roused to a sense ot their wrongs. The spirit of freedom was abroad, and a watchword was merely wanting to arm a nation in favour of those privileges, of which, in times of darkness and ry, they had been fraudulently deprived. Under such circumstances, the errors and oppressions of a long SIS CHARLES I. line of kings were easily associated -with their reigning representative ; and Charles became the sacrifice to a long established system of misrule, as much, if not more, than to individual offence. The hero and the martyr of one faction, and the reputed tyrant of another, few monarchs have been more exalted by their friends, or execrated by their enemies. Let us, however, in discussing the character of Charles, divest ourselves as much as possible from the curse of party prejudice. Let us separate the monarch from the man, the pious Christian from the wavering politician ; ever bearing in mind that the faults of the Prince were the dictates of conscience ; that his failings were the result of education ; but that all his virtues were his own. On the one hand, then, we discover a weak and vacil- lating monarch, submitting to the narrow counsels of inferior minds, neither compromising with grace, nor refusing with dignity ; enforcing religious intolerance ; and contending with the energies of a great people, and the genius of a remarkable period, by unmeaning promises and paltry intrigues. Unfortunately, in the political and most contemptible school of his father, he had early been initiated in kingcraft and insincerity ; and the same Prince whose high sense of honour was remarkable in private life, proved himself lamentably deficient in political integrity. It was this great moral failing which rendered his war with his subjects a war to the knife. Where truth was made subservient to policy on the one hand, submission was rendered impracticable on the other ; for how could his subjects restore to him a power, which they imagined, however solemn the compact, would be turned against themselves ? If reliance is to be placed in the assurances of Cromwell, it was this trait in the CHATILES T. 319 political character of his victim which signed the death- warrant of Charles. Notwithstanding the ingenious defence of Hume and of other writers, such, it is to be feared, is the public character of Charles the First. On the other hand, he was brave, chaste, temperate, and humane ; a pious Christian, an affectionate husband, and an indulgent father. Let us follow him through his many misfortunes. Let us regard him through the gratings of his prison, or amidst the dark solemnity of the scaffold. Let us recall his many griefs. A King deprived of his inheritance ; the husband torn from his wife, and the father from his children ; reviled, and spit upon by the meanest of his subjects ; dragged to a public trial, and trusting only to a still more public execution for release from his miseries ; he yet endured all with a meekness and a dignity -so beautiful, as to be almost unparalleled in the history of human suffering or of human fortitude. Charles the First was born at Dumfermline, in Scot- land, the 19th of November, 1GOO. So weak was he at his birth, that it was hardly expected he could survive his infancy, and consequently, ou the 23rd of December following, he was hastily christened according to the rites of the Episcopalian Church of Scotland, but without any of those ceremonies which usually attend the baptism of royal infants.* "When only four years old, on Twelfth- day, 1605, he was created Duke of York, as well as Knight of the Bath, with ridiculous solemnity : a sword was girded on his side, a coronet of gold placed on his head, and a golden verge in his hand f The absurdity of the solemnity was exaggerated by his being carried in the arms of the venerable and illustrious hero of the * Spotswood, p. 461 ; PerincLief 3 Life of Charles I., p. 2. t Sanderson, p. 322. 320 CHARLES I. Armada, Lord Howard of Effingham, Lord High Admiral of England.* A pageant, which followed the ceremony, is described by Sir Dudley Carleton in a letter to Wimvood, dated January, 1605, and affords a very curious picture of the manners of the time. " There was a public dinner in the great chamber, where there was one table for the Duke and his Earls assistants, another for his fellow Knights of the Bath. At night we had the Queen's Mask in the Banqueting House, or rather her pageant. There was a great engine at the lower end of the room which had motion, and in it were the images of sea-horses, with other terrible fishes, which were ridden by Moors. The indecorum was, that there was all fish and no water. At the further end was a great shell, in the form of a skallop, wherein were four seats. In the lowest sat the Q.ueen with my Lady Bedford; in the rest were placed my Ladies Suffolk, Derby, Rich, Effingham, Ann Herbert, Susan Herbert, Elizabeth Howard, Walsingham, and Bevil. Their appearance was rich, but too light and courtezan-like for such great ones. Instead of vizards, their faces and arms, up to the elbows, were painted black, which was disguise sufficient, for they were hard to be known ; but it became them nothing so well as their red and white, and you cannot imagine a more ugly sight than a troop of lean-cheeked Moors. The Spanish and Venetian Ambassadors were both present, and sat by the King in state ; at which Monsieur Beaumont quarrels so extremely, that he saith the whole court is Spanish. But, by his favour, he should fall out with none but himself, for they were all indifferently invited to come as private men to a private sport; which he refusing, the Spanish ambassadors willingly accepted, * Win wood's Memorials, vol. ii., p. 43. CHARLES I. and being there, seeing no cause to the contrary, he put off Don Taxis, and took upon him El Senor Embaxadour, wherein he outstripped our little Monsieur. He was privately at the first Mask, and sat amongst his men disguised ; at this he was taken out to dance, and footed it like a lusty old gallant, with his countrywoman. He took out the Queen, and forgot not to kiss her hand, though there was danger it would have left a mark on his lips. The night's work was concluded with a banquet in the great chamber, which was so furiously assaulted, that down went table and tressels before one bit was touched. They say the Duke of Hoist will come upon us with an after reckoning, and that we shall see him on Candlemas night in a mask, as he hath showed himself a lusty reveller all this Christmas." * Previous to the young Prince having been brought from Scotland, on the accession of his father to the English throne, many of the court ladies had been anxious suitors for the guardianship of the child. No sooner, however, were they made acquainted with his sickly condition, and the apparent probability of his dying in their charge, than all this anxiety vanished.f Charles was eventually intrusted to the lady of Sir Robert Gary, afterwards Earl of Monmouth ; a man ever on the watch for preferment, and who, as appears by his own Memoirs, had eagerly solicited the honour, notwith- standing the risk. The chief infirmity of Charles was a weakness in his legs, by which, in his infancy, he was so much distressed, that till his seventh year he had been compelled to crawl upon his hands and knees. Gary himself informs us, that the Prince was so weak in his ankles that he could * Winwood's Memorials, vol. ii., p. 43. f Memoirs of Robert Gary, Earl of Monmouth, p. 644. VOL. i. Y CHARLES I. not even stand alone, and that it was much feared there was a dislocation of the joints. The King was anxious to make the experiment of iron boots, but Lady Gary so strenuously protested against their being adopted, that his Majesty eventually submitted to her superior judg- ment. Charles had also remained so long a period before he acquired the faculty of speech, that it was more than apprehended he had been born dumb. James proposed that the string under his tongue should be cut, but this remedy was also successfully opposed by Lady Gary. Probably it was these infantine infirmities that rendered Charles the especial favourite of his mother, Anne of Denmark. She used to say, observes Weldon, that she loved him as dearly as her own soul. In his sixth year, one Thomas Murray, a layman, was appointed his tutor. Little more can be collected respecting this person than the brief notice of Perinchief, who describes him as well qualified for the office, though a favourer of presbyterianisrn.* Under the tuition of Murray he made a creditable progress in learning. Prince Henry often jested with his young brother on the diligence with which . he applied himself to his studies. On one occasion, when they were waiting with the rest of the court for the King to make his appearance, Henry caught up the cap of Archbishop Abbot and put it on his brother's head. If he continued a good boy, he said, and attended to his book, he would one day make him Archbishop of Canterbury.f Henry used to say at * See also Harris's Lives, vol. ii., p. 6. Murray was afterwards rewarded with the provostship of Eton by James L He died in July, 1625, and was succeeded as Provost by Sir Henry Wotton ; Lord Bacon being an unsuccessful candidate for the appointment. t Perinchief, p. 5. CHARLES I. 823 other times, that he would hereafter make his brother a bishop in order that he might wear a gown to hide his legs. This piece of pleasantry had of course allusion to Charles's weakness in those parts of his person, and is the least amiable trait which has been related of Henry. Osborne tells us that he would occasionally taunt his brother Charles till he wept; and yet, throughout the several childish epistles which passed between Henry and his younger brother, there is not the remotest trace of any unkindly feeling. The following juvenile letters are pleasing specimens of their good understanding, and especially of the affectionate disposition of Charles. They were severally addressed by Prince Charles to his brother Henry. " SWEET, SWEET BROTHER, " I thank you for your letter. I will keep it better than all my graith ; and I will send my pistols by Master Newton.* I will give anything that I have to you ; both my horses, and my books, and my pieces, and my cross- bows, or anything that you would have. Good brother, love me, and I shall ever love and serve you. " Tour loving brother to be commanded, " YORK." " GOOD BROTHER, " I hope you are in good health and merry, as I am, God be thanked. In your absence I visit sometimes your stable, and ride your great horses, that at your return I may wait on you in that noble exercise. So committing you to God, I rest, " Tour loving and dutiful brother, " YORK." "To my brother the Prince." * Probably Adam Newton, Prince Henry's tutor. z 2 324 CHARLES I. SIR, " Please your Highness ; I do keep your hares in breath, and I have very good sport ; I do wish the King and you might see it. So longing to see you, I kiss your hands and rest, Tours to be commanded, " YOBK." " My maid's service to you." "To Ms Highness."* Among the letters addressed to King James by his family, which are preserved in the Advocates' library in Edinburgh, are several juvenile compositions, in Latin, French, and English, from Prince Charles, then Duke of York. The following is a specimen. " SWEETE, "Sweet Father, I learn to decline substantives and adjectives, give me your blessing : I thank you for my best man. Your loving son, "YOBK." " To my Father the King." In his eleventh year, Charles was made a Knight of the Garter. At the death of his brother in 1612, he succeeded to the Dukedom of Cornwall, and in 1616 was created Prince of Wales. His progress in learning, and especially in theological knowledge, afforded great pleasure to his father, King James. " Charles," said the King to his chaplains, " shall manage a point in controversy with the best studied divine of you all."f Still, however, the Prince neither despised, nor lost sight of, the amusements and elegancies of life. He was perfect, says Perinchief, " in vaulting, riding the great horse, running at the ring, * Ellis's Orig. Letters, vol. iii., pp. 92, 94. t Perinchief p. 10. CHARLES I. 325 shooting in cross-bows,* muskets, and sometimes great pieces of ordnance." This account of his accomplish- ments is borne out by the testimony of other writers. He is mentioned by Sir Symonds d'Ewes as a successful tilter ; and at a tournament which took place in 1619, his prowess and activity are specially mentioned. The Count de Brienne, also, mentions an occasion of Charles breaking some lances with laudable dexterity ; and, again, we find Howell writing from Madrid, that the Prince had been fortunate enough to be successful at the ring, before the eyes of his mistress the Infanta. His love for the fine arts was early displayed, and the correct- ness of his taste has never been disputed. The match between Charles and Mary, second daughter of Philip the Third of Spain, was first set on foot in 1617, and was protracted, with various hopes of success, * The cross-bow was made use for the purposes of sport to a much later period than is generally supposed. About this time, Abbot, Archbishop of Canterbury, when on a visit at Bramshall, the seat of Edward, Lord Zouch, had the misfortune to kill a keeper with this instrument, instead of striking the deer at which he had aimed. It is a curious fact, that by this mischance, it was rendered very doubtful whether the common law of England did not necessarily suspend the Archbishop from all ecclesiastical function, and render the see vacant. The question was referred to sundry bishops (rather interested judges), and others, among whom there arose a great diversity of opinion. The decision appears to have been principally influenced by the question, whether a bishop or archbishop could lawfully hunt in his own or any other park I This difficulty was cleared away by Sir Edward Coke, who produced a law by which it was enacted that at the demise of a bishop, the King had the disposal of his hounds ; from whence it was inferred that the bishop could lawfully make use of the animals in his life-time. Heylin, Life of Laud, p. 80. The method at this time, in sporting, was for the keeper to wound the deer with his cross-bow, when two or three well-disciplined dogs were let loose, and pursued him till he fell. Life of Lord Keeper Guildford, p. 29. On the 28th July, 1620, Francis Norris, Earl of Berkshire, put an end to his existence with a cross-bow. 326 CHARLES I. till 1622. The accomplishment of this matrimonial pro- ject was the darling object of King James. The immense fortune which it was expected would accompany the hand of the Princess ; the King's ambition to unite his son with a daughter of one of the great powers of France or Spain ; and especially the restitution of the Palatinate to his son-in-law, which he hoped would follow a marriage with the Infanta, rendered the scheme, however obnoxious to his subjects, irresistibly tempting to himself. A delay of five years, if it was displeasing to an old King, was no less so to a young and romantic Prince ; and Charles, fond of adventure, and enamoured with charms which he had never seen, was induced to enter eagerly into that chivalrous project of visiting the Spanish capital, which even in the annals of knight errantry has hardly been outmatched. The journey of Charles to Madrid is believed to have been originally suggested by Buckingham. This fact, indeed, is not only asserted by more than one contem- porary writer, but Buckingham himself imparted to his confidant Gerbier, that he was the author of the project. The wily favourite, jealous lest the Earl of Bristol, the King's Ambassador to Spain, should obtain all the credit of conducting the match, and, moreover, anxious to establish a lasting claim on the Prince's gratitude, and to associate himself with his most private feelings, made use of every argument in his power in order to engage the Prince in his designs. He was not without sup- porters. Gondomar, the Spanish Ambassador, endea- voured to soften all difficulties, and Bristol himself wrote from Madrid, that the personal accomplishments of Charles would be sure to carry the day. Everything having been duly concerted between the Prince and Buckingham, the next step was to obtain the CHARLES I. 527 consent of the King. This, however, was no easy matter ; for though a very wild enterprise might appear extremely smooth to two chivalrous young men, the monarch, who was anxious for his heir, and answerable to his subjects for his safety, was likely to think very differently on such a subject. An opportunity, however, was selected when the King was in an excellent humour, when Charles, throwing himself on his knees before his father, earnestly entreated him to give his consent to the expedition. Buckingham was the only bystander, and anxiously awaited the reply. James, after listening with great calmness to his son's proposition, turned imploringly towards Buckingham, as if desirous to ascertain his opinion. The Duke, on his part, naturally made use of every persuasion in his power, and eventually enforced his arguments with so much vigour and ingenuity, that, added to the warmth of the Prince's entreaties, the King at length reluctantly consented to the undertaking and, moreover, promised to keep it a secret from the world. James, however, was no sooner alone, than he began to reflect more seriously on the wild folly of the scheme. The many dangers which might befall his son, and the responsibility which would accrue to himself, presented themselves so forcibly to his mind, that when the adven- turers came to him at the last moment for their despatches, he told them with tears in his eyes, how deeply he had repented of his former consent, adding, that, if they renewed the subject, it would go far towards breaking his heart. Buckingham retorted with insolence, that after having broken a promise so solemnly pledged, nobody hereafter would believe a word he said. He told the old King, moreover, that he must already have been guilty of an untruth, for unquestionably he had commu- 328 CHARLES I. nicated their project to some rascal, whose pitiful argu- ments had induced him to retract his promise ; adding, that he had little doubt but that he should by some means discover who his counsellor had been, and that such an interference would neither be forgotten nor forgiven by the Prince.* The haughty violence of Buckingham, and the renewed entreaties of Charles, had once more the desired effect. The weak monarch again yielded, the day was named for their departure, their two attendants were fixed upon, and Sir Francis Cottington,f who was selected to accompany them in consequence of having been long a resident in Spain, was even sent for before they parted. As Cottington entered the apartment, the Duke whis- pered in the Prince's ear, that the new comer would show himself averse to the expedition : Charles retorted in the same low tone that he durst not. The King commenced by informing Cottington, that he believed him to be an honest man, and would there- fore entrust him with a secret which he must disclose to no person living. " Cottington," he added, " here is Baby Charles and Stenny, who have a great mind to go by post into Spain, and fetch home the Infanta, and will have but two more in their company, and have chosen you for one ; what think you of the journey ? " Cot- tington afterwards repeatedly mentioned, that when this important question was put to him, he trembled so violently, he could with difficulty give utterance to his * Clarendon, vol. i., pp. 23 29. + Created Lord Cottington of Hanworth, 10th July, 1631, by Charles I. In 1617 he had accompanied the English Ambassador to Spain, and in 1649 was again sent there as ambassador by Charles II. He died at Valladolid in 1653, when the Barony of Cottington became extinct. Arthur Wilson says, that "he always looked like a merchant, and had the least mien of a gentleman." CHARLES I. 329 words. But the King peremptorily demanding his reply, Cottington told him, fairly and openly, that he believed such a step would be a death-blow to the completion of the match. He was convinced, he said, that when the Spaniards had the Prince once in their hands, they would immediately make new overtures, and greatly increase their demands ; especially as regarded the advancement of the Romish faith in England. On hear- ing this candid opinion, James, in the agony of his grief, actually threw himself on his bed, and, breaking out into the most pitiable lamentations, exclaimed passionately that he was undone, and that he should lose Baby Charles for ever. The Prince and Buckingham were both extremely dis- concerted. The latter, turning to Cottington, told him, in an angry tone, that the King had merely asked his advice as to the best mode of travelling in Spain, of which he was competent to give some opinion, but that he had presumed to offer his advice on matters of state ; adding, that he should repent the impertinence as long as he lived. "Nay, by G , Stenny," said the King, "you are very much to blame to use him so. He answered me directly to the question I asked him, and very honestly and wisely ; and yet you know he said no more than I told you, before he was called in." On this occasion, how- ever, notwithstanding Cottington's opposition, the King kept his word, and the journey was definitively settled.* * Clarendon, voL i., p. 32. 330 CHAPTEE X. Charles and Buckingham in disguise, set out on the Journey to Spain Arrival at Boulogne Court Ball at Paris The Prince in danger of being arrested at Bayonne Arrival at Madrid Reception of Charles by the King Rejoicings at Madrid Magnificent Conduct of Philip the Fourth Reception of Charles by the Queen Scene on the Prado, when Charles first saw the Infanta Restricted Intercourse between Charles and the Infanta Charles's romantic Affection for her Magnificent Presents to the Spanish Ladies Letters from King James to his Son, and Buckingham Their Prodigality Hopes entertained by the Spaniards, of the Prince's Conversion to the Spanish Faith Letters from the Pope to Charles Aversion of the People of England to the Spanish Match The Spanish Treaty James's Meanness in allowing the Spanish King to dictate to him. ON the 17th of Fehruary, 1623, the Prince, retiring privately from court, proceeded to Buckingham's house, at Newhall, in Essex. From thence they set out on the following day, (accompanied only hy Sir Richard Graham, Master of the Horse to the Duke,) and arrived, though not without adventures, by way of Gravesend, at Dover. They had previously disguised themselves with false beards and adopted fictitious names ; the Prince passing as Mr. John Smith, and the Duke as Mr. Thomas Smith* They had not journeyed many miles, when an incident occurred which nearly arrested their progress. In cross- ing the river at Gravesend, for want of silver, they had given the ferryman a gold piece. The man, equally astonished and grateful for such liberality, imagining * Wilson, 225. CHARLES I. 331 that his benefactors were proceeding across the Channel for the purpose of fighting a duel, thought the kindest step he could take was to hint his suspicions to the authorities of the nearest town. Accordingly informa- tion was instantly despatched to the Mayor of Canter- bury; and just as the Prince and Buckingham were about to mount fresh horses, they were summoned to the presence of that important personage. The Duke, finding concealment impracticable, divested himself of his beard, and privately informed the Mayor who he really was : he was going, he said, in his capacity of Lord High Admiral, to acquaint himself secretly with the condition and discipline of the fleet. His identity was easily proved, and the adventurers were allowed to proceed. A boy, who rode post with their baggage, had also recognised their persons, but the silence of this individual was not very difficult to be purchased.* The next accident which happened to them, was encountering the French ambassador, (who was, of course, well acquainted with their persons,) on the brow of the hill, beyond Eochester. Their horses, however, though merely hired at the last post, were fortunately able to leap the hedge by the road-side, and thus enabled them to escape observation. This circumstance was the more fortunate, inasmuch as the ambassador, (as was then usual,) was travelling in one of the King's coaches ; and their recognition by some of the royal servants must consequently have been inevitable. At Dover they were joined by Sir Francis Cottington and Endymion Porter, who had been despatched before- hand to provide a vessel for their conveyance across the Channel. Both of these persons, from their long resi- dence in Spain, were well acquainted with the Spanish * Reliquiae Wottonianse, p. 212. 332 CUARLES I. language and customs. The party, which was now in- creased to five, arrived safely at Boulogne, whence they rode post to Paris.* On their way they fell in with two German gentlemen, who had recently seen the Prince at Newmarket, and who fancied they remembered his person. The improbability, however, of their being right in their conjectures, and the apparent astonishment, and cool denial of Sir Kichard Graham, when they hinted to him their suspicion, had the effect of convincing them they were mistaken. At Paris, where the travellers remained a whole day, the Prince and Buckingham, in order still more effectually to disguise their features, provided themselves with periwigs. Trusting to this further disfigurement, they contrived, through French politeness, and the fact of their being strangers, to obtain a sight of the Queen- mother at dinner. The same evening they were spectators of a masked ball at court, where all the beauty of Paris was present, and at which Charles first beheld the Princess, whom he afterwards married, and Buckingham that young and light-hearted Queen, whom at a later period he dared to address as a lover.f The famous Lord Herbert of Cherbury happened to be Ambassador at the French court, during the short sojourn of Charles. Lord Herbert tells us, in his Memoirs, that the only person in Paris who recognised the features of Charles, was a maid-servant, who had formerly sold linen in London, and who insisted to every one that she had seen the Prince of "Wales. Nothing of importance occurred from this period, till the travellers had almost set foot on Spanish ground, when their progress was again very nearly being * Wilson, p. 226. Rel. Wot., p. 214. t Eel. Wot., p. 215 ; Wilson, p. 226. CHARLES I. 333 arrested. Howell writes from Madrid : " The Prince's journey was like to be spoiled in France, for if he had stayed but a little longer at Bayonne, the last town of that kingdom hitherwards, he had been discovered ; for Monsieur Grammont, the Governor, had notice of him not long after he had taken post." * Charles was cer- tainly subjected to an examination before he quitted Bayonne. Grammont, the Governor, told Lord Herbert, that, till the adventurers had quitted the place, he was ignorant of the Prince's rank. Charles and his suite are described as wearing " fine riding-coats, all of one colour and fashion, in a kind of noble simplicity." Another escape which they had was from the hospi- tality of the Duke D'Epernon, who, as strangers, kindly invited them to his chateau. Cottington, however, in- formed him they were persons of such low degree as to be unfit for such splendid society, and thus eluded the invitation.f The arrival of Charles and Buckingham at Madrid was altogether a surprise even to the English Ambassador, the Earl of Bristol, who, on the 10th of March, 1623, thus announces their safety to King James : " Upon Friday, which was the 7th of this month, about eight of the clock at night, the Prince and my Lord of Bucking- ham, without any other company but their postilion, arrived at my house ; where my Lord Marquis meeting at the door with Henry Jermyn, a son of Sir Thomas Jerinyn's, told him that his name was Smith, and that he had met my servant Gresly by the way, who had fallen into thieves' hands, by whom he had been very ill-used, and had all his letters taken away : he said he had got a fall, and hurt one of his legs, so that he could not come up stairs but with great pain. Whilst Henry Jermyn Howell's Letters, p. 133. t Bel. Wot. p. 216. 334 CUAELES I. was making this relation unto me, Sim. Digby went to see who it was, and knew my Lord of Buckingham ; but dissembled it so well, that before I could come to him, he had got him up to his chamber, and went presently down to the Prince, (who stood all this while in the street with his postilion,) and brought him likewise so handsomely up to his chamber, that there I found them both together, and we carried the business so dexterously, that that night they were undiscovered by any, till the next morning, by the coming of Mr. Secretary Cottington and Endymion Porter, the secret was revealed." * " The Prince," writes Howell, "and the Marquis of Buckingham arrived at this court on Friday last, upon the close of the evening : they alighted at my Lord of Bristol's house, and the Marquis, Mr. Thomas Smith, came in first, with a portmanteau under his arm ; then J/r. John Smith, the Prince, was sent for, who staid awhile on t'other side of the street, in the dark." Having written to announce his arrival to his father, the Prince retired to rest. The next day Buckingham waited on the Spanish King, and formally acquainted him with the arrival of the Prince. The Duke was introduced through a secret passage to his Majesty's private apartment. Bristol was present, and describes the interview. " I never," he says, " saw the Spanish, gravity laid aside before, nor any man more overtaken with joy than the King was, for he secretly understood of the Prince's being here." f His Majestly despatched his prime minister, Olivarez, to do honour to his illustrious visitor. Olivarez threw himself on his knees before Charles, and, in the course of the day, the King himself waited on the Prince. Nothing could * Dalrymple's Memorials, p. 151. t Ibid., p. 153. CHARLES I, 335 be more cordial than their interview ; nor was it till after many " salutations and divers embraces," that at a late hour they separated. From this period Madrid became a constant scene of magnificence and rejoicing. Nothing was omitted that could make the Prince's stay agreeable to himself, or that might banish from his mind any apprehension of being detained as a captive ; a consummation, however, of this wild adventure, which was much dreaded at home, and which, to all appearance, was not unlikely to happen. In order fully to appreciate the generous forbearance of the Spanish court, we must advert to an inhospitable practice of former times ; that of treating as a captive any prince who might happen to set his foot uninvited in the dominions of another. Eichard the First, of .England, passing in disguise through the territories of the Archduke of Austria, Philip the First of Spain, having been cast by a tempest on the coast of England, James the First of Scotland, whose vessel was seized by the English ; and lastly, Mary Queen of Scots, trust- ing herself in the hands of Elizabeth, were alike detained as prisoners. But this dishonourable practice, of which so many examples had been set by the English themselves, was so far from being followed by the high-minded Spaniards, that they refrained even from imposing a single fresh condition in the marriage treaty. The people of Madrid were much struck with the romance and gallantry of the visit. The famous Lopez de Vega aroused his rapid muse on the occasion, and his versea were everywhere chanted in the streets. Carlos Estuardo soy Que, siendo Amor mi gu'o, Al cielo d' Espafla voy Per ver mi estrella Maria. 336 CHARLES I. Charles Stuart I am, Love has guided me far ; To the heaven of Spain, To Maria my star. Only a short time before, the Spaniards are said to have pictured the English as a nation little removed from savages. This notion had been fostered by the priests, who even described Sir Francis Drake to their congregations as a monster, half dragon and half man.* These ridiculous prejudices had been dissipated in a great degree by the recent embassy of the Earl of Nottingham ; on which occasion the Spaniards had been much astonished at the splendour of his train, and the handsome persons of the heretical English. But when they beheld the heir to a great monarchy risking liberty and life in furtherance of a romantic enterprise ; when they became eye-witnesses of an act of gallantry, which, even in their own chivalrous annals, had scarcely been surpassed : and when there arrived at Madrid that bril- liant band of courtiers, who had hastened from England as soon as the Prince's departure was publicly known, the astonishment and enthusiasm of the Spaniards knew no bounds. Moreover, the conduct of the Spanish King, Philip the Fourth, was beyond all praise. He insisted on Charles taking precedency of himself; he set apart a principal quarter of the royal palace for his accommoda- tion ; he appointed a guard of one hundred men to attend his person ; and also presented him with a golden key, which, at any hour, would give him access to the royal bed-chamber. The prisons were everywhere thrown open ; hundreds of captives were set at liberty, and a recent proclamation against excessive costliness in dress was * Wcldon, p. 39. CHARLES I. 837 suspended in honour of the occasion. A day was appointed for the ceremony of a public entrance into Madrid ; on which occasion the Prince was attended by Gondomar and the Ministers of State to St. Jerom's Monastery ; the place from whence, on the days of their coronation, the Spanish monarchs were in the habit of making their entry into the capital. Here he was magnificently feasted ; the officers of state waiting on him bare-headed. As soon as the banquet was over, the King came in person to escort him into Madrid. Placing the Prince on his right hand, they rode together under a rich canopy, followed by a brilliant train ; the houses hung with pictures and tapestry, and the people shouting enthusiastically as they passed. The reception of Charles by the Queen was no less gratifying. She presented him with several rich presents, among which were perfumes and fine linen.* It was on the Sunday after his arrival, that Charles, for the first time, beheld the Infanta on the Prado at Madrid. " The King, (writes Ho well,) with the Queen, his two brothers, and the Infanta, were all in one coach, but the Infanta sat in the boot with a blue ribbon about her arm, on purpose that the Prince might distinguish her ; there were above twenty coaches besides, of grandees, noble- men, and ladies, that attended them. As soon as the Infanta saw the Prince, her colour rose very high, which we hold to be an impression of love and affection, for the * Rushworth, vol. L, pp. 76, 77. "These presents consisted of a great basin of massy gold, which was borne by two man ; a curiously embroidered night-gown was folded in it. Two trunks bound with bands of pure gold, and studded with nails of gold, with locks and keys of gold ; the coverings and linings of amber leather, and filled with fine linen and perfumes. These were accompanied by a rich writing-desk, every drawer of which was full of varieties and curiosities." D' 'Israeli's Commentaries on Charles I. vol. i., p. 65. VOL. I. Z 338 CHARLES I. face is oftentimes the true index of the heart. The people here do mightily magnify the gallantry of the journey, and cry out that the Prince deserved to have the Infanta thrown into his arms the first night he came." * According to a curious tract, published at the period, the meeting on the Prado was a preconcerted measure.f The Prince was of course extremely anxious to obtain a sight of the mistress for whom he had ventured so much, but as the strictness of Spanish etiquette pre- cluded a formal introduction till a dispensation had been received from the Pope, the King of Spain kindly hit upon the expedient of the blue ribbon and the Prado. The following passage is from the little work above alluded to : " In conformity to the Prince's desire, his Majesty being that night acquainted with it by the Conde, resolved to give his Highness all satisfaction. And so he went abroad next day, at the hour appointed, which was about three o'clock in the afternoon, and to the Prado, being the certain place agreed upon between them, his Majesty conducting with him the Queen, his sister the Infanta, the Infantes Don Carlos and the Cardinal Don Fernando, his brethren ; the Conde de Olivarez and the Conde de Grondomar following him with much of the nobility of that court, both of ladies * Howell's Letters, p. 133. f The fact is corroborated by the Earl of Bristol in a letter to King James. "My Lord Marquis," he says, "having intimated the great desire the Prince had, as soon as might be, to see his mistress, they acquainted the King therewith, who was so forward therein, that, notwithstanding the next day was Sunday, and in Lent, yet he dis- pensed with his gravity so far as to go in a coach abroad, to a place called the Prado, which is a hole without the town, where men do take air, with his sister with him, and all the court, where the Prince was to stand disguised in a coach to see them." Memorials, p. 154. CHARLES I. 339 and lords. The Prince, on the other side, went disguised in the Duke of Cea's coach, and was attended in the same coach by the Lord Marquis [Buckingham], the Earl of Bristol, and the Conde de Grondomar, and Sir Walter Aston ; and both the King and the Prince made diverse turns and returns in their several coaches, and in several parts of the town and Prado, (which is a place of recreation where the nobility is often wont to take the air,) and every one of them saw each other in a clear light, not being able to sustain from saluting each other with the hat as they passed by, though they had agreed to take no kind of notice of one another ; and this was all they did for that time. The King and all that royal company returned by night by a world of torch-light, which made a most glorious show." * Howell describes the Infanta as a " very comely lady, rather of a Flemish, complexion than Spanish, fair haired, and carrieth a most pure mixture of red and white in her face." t The personal appearance, however, oi Charles at Madrid produced but little effect in hastening the marriage. He was constantly refused a private interview with the Infanta ; her family giving as their reason the non-arrival of the dispensation. J Subsequently they were allowed to meet and converse in public, on which occasion the Earl of Bristol acted as interpreter : the King, however, always took care to be at hand, in order that he might overhear the conversation. Charles would * "A true relation and journal of the manner of the arrival and magnificent entertainment given to the high and mighty Prince Charles, Prince of Great Britain, by the King of Spain, in his court at Madrid." London, 1623. t Howell's Letters, p. 125. Like a true courtier, Howell afterwards changed his opinion as to the personal charms of the Infanta. The star of Henrietta Maria was then in the ascendant. Wilson, p. 230. Howell's Letters, p. 136. 34-0 CHARLES I. appear to have been really in love with the Infanta's person. Howell tells us that he has seen him in a thoughtful mood, with his eyes immoveably fixed on his mistress for half an hour at a time ; and that he has known him to remain an hour in a close coach, in a particular street, watching for the Infanta to come abroad. Olivarez, the Spanish minister, remarked point- edly that the Prince watched the Infanta as a cat does a mouse. The Infanta, on her part, appears to have been dazzled, by the accomplishments of Charles, and gratified by so chivalrous a courtship. Sir Francis Cottington writes to King James from Madrid, in a letter dated the 8th of April, 1623, " I was interpreter for my Lord Marquis when he spoke with the Infanta Donna Maria. She inquired for your Majesty's health before she would hear anything else. But when my lord came to speak of the Prince, she blushed extremely ; and his Highness hath since spoken with her himself (having often seen her) and likes her so well, as, without all doubt, she will be with child before she get into England." * It certainly was not his own fault, that Charles did not address his mistress with all the passion of youth and romance. The following incident proves him to have been no timid wooer. The Princess was in the habit of spending the summer mornings at a suburban residence of her brother, known as the Casa de Campo. Here she used to wander by the river side, gathering may-dew, and perhaps musing on the gallantry and accomplish- ments of her chivalrous lover. Charles, hearing of these visits, rose purposely one morning very early, and, with only one companion, found his way into the garden of the Casa. The Infanta, however, was in the orchard, * Dalryniple's Memorials, p. 160. CHARLES I. 341 and the door between them was double-locked. Charles, determined not to be baffled, climbed the wall, and, though the height was considerable, sprang to the ground. The Infanta was the first to perceive him, and gave a loud scream. An old Marquis, who was her guardian, immediately approached the Prince, and, falling on his knees, conjured him to retire ; adding that he would probably lose his head should he allow him to remain. The door consequently was unlocked and the Prince reluctantly departed.* Jewels, the value of which is said to have amounted to one hundred thousand pounds, were forwarded from London to Madrid, and lavished by Charles and Buck- ingham on the Spanish ladies. " The Prince," says Arthur Wilson, " presented his mistress with a necklace which all Spain could not parallel ; pearls that had not been long plucked from their watery bed and had left there but few fellows." The Infanta, however, declined receiving them for the present, and they were deposited in the hands of the ministers of the Crown till her marriage- day. It was much to the honour of the Spanish Court, that when the match was broken off, and a war threatened, these jewels were returned. James appears to have been to a childish degree desirous that the Prince and Buckingham should appear with unusual splendour at the Spanish Court. In a letter to Charles, dated 17th March, 1623, he writes : " I send you the robes of the Order [of the Garter], which you must not forget to wear upon St. George's Day, and dine together in them, which I hope in heaven you may ; for it will be a goodly sight for the Spaniards to see my two boys dine in them. I send you also the jewels I promised, with some of mine, and such of yours, * Dalrymple's Memorials, p. 135. 342 CHARLES I. I mean loth of you, as are worthy the sending, for my Baby's presenting his mistress." The King concludes, " God bless you both, my sweet boys, and send you, after a successful journey, a joyful and happy return to the arms of your dear dad. JAMES BEX." Another extract from one of King James's letters (in reply to the requisitions of the Prince and Buckingham for fresh supplies of jewels) will show how ready he was to grace his son and favourite, and to gratify their exorbitant demands: "For my Baby's presenting his mistress, I send him an old double cross of Lorrain, not so rich as ancient, and yet not contemptible for the value ; a good looking-glass, with my picture in it, to be hung at her girdle, which ye must tell her ye have caused so to be enchanted by art magic, as whenever she shall be pleased to look in it, she shall see the fairest lady that her brother or your father's dominions can afford : ye shall present her with two pair of long diamonds set like an anchor, and a fair pendant diamond hanging at them ; ye shall give her a goodly rope of pearls ; ye shall give her a carcanet or collar ; thirteen great ball rubies, and thirteen knots or conques of pearls ; and ye shall give her three goodly peak pendants diamonds, whereof the biggest to be worn at a needle on the midst of her forehead, and one in every ear. As for thee, my sweet gossip, I send thee a fair table diamond, which I would once have given thee before, if thou would have taken it, for wearing in thy hat, or where thou pleasest ; and if my Baby will spare thee the two long diamonds in form of an anchor, with the pendant diamond, it were fit for an admiral to wear, and he hath enough better jewels for his mis- tress, though he has of thine own, thy good old jewel, thy three Pindars diamonds, thy picture-case I gave CHARLES I. 343 Kate,* and the great diamond chain I gave her, who would have sent thee the last pin she had, if I had not staid her." t The Lord Treasurer Middlesex made great complaints of the prodigality of Charles and Buckingham. The following is a MS. note of Sir "William Musgrave to one of the Tracts in the British Museum, which treat of the Prince's journey : " It appears by the enrolment book in the office for auditing the public accounts (vol. iii. fol. 175), that the Prince's expenses for his journey into Spain, during his abode there, and for hig return from thence, amounted unto 50,027Z., which was paid in part out of the King's Exchequer, and in part out of the Prince's Treasury." It is even asserted in a letter from Mr. Mead to Sir Martin Stuteville, that 600,0002. worth of jewels had been sent from the Tower into Spain, to be at the disposal of Charles and Buckingham. That the Spaniards entertained strong hopes of the Prince's conversion to the Eomish faith, and of the consequent re-establishment of the Pope's ascendancy in England, there can be little doubt ; indeed, it was almost generally believed by the Spanish Court, that the Prince had made up his mind to become a Catholic before he left his own country. The Pope even wrote to the Bishop of Couchen, conjuring him not to let slip so glorious an opportunity of advancing the interests of their Church. To Charles and Buckingham also he addressed letters of expostulation. To the latter he writes on the 19th of May, 1623, exhorting him not only to become a Roman Cathob'c himself, but to use his utmost endeavour to bring over the Court and kingdom * The Duchess of Buckingham. t Hardwicke's State Papers, vol. i., p. 406. $ Wilson, p. 230 ; Bushworth, voL i., p. 73. 344- CHARLES I. of England to that persuasion.* His Holiness's letter to Charles is dated the day following : " We have com- manded," he writes, " to make continually most humble prayers to the Father of Lights, that he would be pleased to put you as a fair flower of Christendom, and the only hope of Great Britain, in possession of that most noble heritage, that your ancestors have purchased for you, to defend the authority of the Sovereign High Priest, and to fight against the monsters of Heresy." He speaks also of the projected marriage, as " having elevated him to the hope of an extraordinary advantage." Charles returned an answer which he should never have written, and in which, if he does not actually profess himself a Papist, he at least intimates that he is well inclined to the Pope's authority, and that he may eventually become a proselyte to the Bomish faith.f Hume, alluding to this correspon- dence, merely observes, that the Prince having received a very civil letter from the Pope, was induced to return a very civil answer. The Court of Madrid was far from discovering any backwardness in supporting the views of the Holy Father. Olivarez, and others about the Prince's person, were entrusted with arguments by the heads of the Church, which they constantly and ingeniously enforced. It was of course intimated to Charles, how much his conversion would smooth the path to his marriage ; and, when this inducement appeared insufficient, Archbishop Spotswood says, that it was even hinted to him, that unless he embraced their religion, he could scarcely think of winning the Infanta. It was objected by the Prince, among other arguments, that his apostacy would, in all probability, produce a rebellion in England. To Cabala, p. 343. t Wilson, p. 235. CHARLES I. 345 tliis it was coolly replied by the Spanish Court, that they would gladly assist him with an army against such a rebellious people.* Among other incentives to effect his conversion, all the splendours of religious pageantry were brought into action. The architectural magnificence of their churches, the inspiration of their music, and the solemn sacri- fice of the Mass, would instil, it was hoped, into the heart of Charles an exalted notion of the Catholic mode of worship, and an equal contempt of his own. The most pompous processions were exhibited before him ; he was carried to such persons as were famous for pretended miracles : Popish books were dedicated, and Popish pictures presented, to him ; nor was anything omitted that could either fire the imagination or awe the heart into reverence. Neither arguments, however, nor tempta- tions could allure Charles from the religion of his country and his conscience. Indeed, his visit was very far from infecting him with a more favourable opinion of the Komish tenets. On the 5th of April, 1623, the Earl of Carlisle writes to King James, from Madrid : " I dare boldly assure your Majesty, that his Highness's well- grounded piety, and knowledge of the religion wherein he was bred, is infinitely confirmed and corroborated by the spectacles which he hath seen of their devotions here."t After the decease of Archbishop Usher, the following memorandum was discovered in the handwriting of that prelate : " The King [Charles I.] once at White- hall, in the presence of George Duke of Buckingham, of his own accord, said to me, that he never loved Popery in all his life, but that he never detested it before his going into Spain." J * Wilson, p. 233 ; Rnshworth, vol. i., p. 83. t Dalrymple's Memorials, p. 158. ?: Harris, vol. ii., p. 238. 346 CHARLES I. The wishes of King James, and the prejudices of the people of England, were directly at variance as regarded the Spanish match. The latter had been long murmuring at the increase of the Eoman Catholics, and the encou- ragement which they received ; but now, when the heir to the throne was actually engaged to a Catholic Princess ; when articles were being drawn up, which permitted the children of the Prince of Wales to be educated among Papists, and by which compact their being members of that faith would be no bar to their succession to the crown, we cannot wonder that the Protestants were greatly incensed at the conduct of James. But the King was alike deaf to the murmurs of his people and the remonstrances of the House of Commons. His only feeling was anger at their interference ; and, while the latter were drawing up their protest, he withdrew him- self discontentedly to Newmarket ; nominally on the plea of impaired health, though in reality to escape from their wise but unwelcome importunities. It would be impertinent to detail the many objections which preclude a union between the heir to the throne of England and a daughter of the Komish persuasion. The general fact of inexpediency is sufficiently proved by the misfortunes which the union of Charles and Henrietta Maria eventually entailed upon their posterity and the people of England at large. Strange indeed as it may appear, no one better understood than James himself, the miseries which would probably result from such a step. In his Basilicon Doron, written expressly for the benefit of his son, Prince Henry, he had pubb'shed, but a few years previously, the following sensible remarks on the subject, " I would rather have you marry one that was fully of your own religion, her rank and other qualities being agreeable to your estate; for although, to my CHARLES I. 347 great regret, the number of any Princes of power and accounts, professing our religion, be but very small, and that therefore this advice seems to be the more strait and difficult ; yet we have deeply to weigh, and consider upon these doubts, how ye and your wife can be of one flesh, and keep unity betwixt you, being members of two opposite churches : disagreement in religion bringeth ever with it disagreement in manners ; and the dissension betwixt your preachers and hers will breed and foster dissension among your subjects, taking their example from your family ; besides the peril of the evil education of your children." * But the prospect of a splendid alliance, and a no less splendid marriage portion, was too tempting to be resisted. The articles of the Spanish Treaty are still extant, and exhibit singular proofs of the indifference of James to the interests of the Protestant religion. Indeed, when we discover the degrading terms which are there insisted upon by the Court of Spain ; when we find the King of Eng- land, and the head of the Eeformed Church, affixing his name and approval to a document, in which a sect so hostile to the interests of his people is styled officially the Holy Roman Church ; t when it is approved that the Infanta shall not only have a private chapel for the exercise of the Eomish faith, but also a public church in the metropolis ; when the King of England is con- tent to be dictated to by the King of Spain, as to the manner in which he shall govern his own subjects ; * King James's Works, p. 172. t Sully tells us that James once reproved him for giving the Pope the title of Holiness, telling him that it was an offence against God, to whom alone this title could justly helong. There is, however, a letter extant from James to Pope Gregory the Fifteenth, dated 30th September, 1622, relative to the most expedient method of settling the differences, which commences formally, Most Holy Father. See Cabala, p. 412. 348 CHAKLES 1. when a foreign Prince is allowed to alter the laws of his country ; and finally, when a Protestant King con- sents that every separate stipulation shall be allowed and approved by the Pope, we cannot view the conduct of James in any other light than that of wonder and disgust. As the Treaty itself is a curious document, and as it may be interesting to compare it hereafter with the no less disgraceful compact between Charles and Henrietta Maria, we will transcribe the most im- portant of the articles. " 3rd. That the gracious Infanta shall take with her such servants and family as are convenient for her service ; which family, and all her servants to her belonging, shall be chosen and nominated by the Catholic King, so as he nominate no servant which is vassal to the King of Eng- land without his will and consent." " 5th. That she shall have an oratory and decent chapel at her palace, where, at the pleasure of the most gracious Infanta, masses may be celebrated ; which oratory or chapel shall be adorned with such decency as shall seem convenient for the most gracious Infanta, with a public church in London," &c. " 6th. That the men-servants and maid-servants of the most gracious Infanta, and their servants, children and descendants, and all their families of what sort soever, serving her Highness, may be freely Catholics." " 9th. That the chapel, church, and oratory, may be beautified with decent ornaments, of altar and other things necessary for divine service, which is to be celebrated in them according to the custom of the Holy Eoman Church; and that it shall be lawful for the said servants, and others, to go to the said chapel and church at all hours, as to them shall seem expedient." CHAELES I. 349 " llth. That to the administration of the Sacraments, and to serve in chapel and church aforesaid, there shall be so many priests, and assistants, as to the Infanta shall seem fit, and the election of them shall belong to the Lady Infanta, and the Catholic King her brother : pro- vided that they be none of the vassals of the King of Great Britain ; and if they be, his will and consent is to be first obtained." "15th. That the servants of the family of the Lady Infanta, who shall come into England, shall take the oath of allegiance to the King of Great Britain, provided that there be no clause therein which shall be contrary to their consciences and the Eoman Catholic religion ; and if they happen to be vassals to the King of Great Britain, they shall take the same oath that the Spaniard doth." " 17th. That the laws made against Catholics in Eng- land, or in any other kingdom of the King of Great Britain, shall not extend to the children of this marriage, and though they be Catholics, they shall not lose the right of succession vo the kingdom and dominions of Great Britain." " 18th. That the nurses which shall give suck to the children of the Lady Infanta (whether they be of the kingdom of Great Britain or of any other nation what- soever) shall be chosen by the Lady Infanta as she pleaseth, and shall be accounted of her family, and enjoy the privileges thereof." " 19th. That the bishop, ecclesiastical persons, &c. of the family of the Lady Infanta, shall wear the vestment and habit of his dignity, profession, and religion, after the custom of Home." " 21st. That the sons and daughters which shall be born of this marriage, shall be brought up in the company 350 CHARLES I. of the most excellent Infanta, at tlie least until the age of ten years, and shall freely enjoy the right of succession as aforesaid." "24th. That conformably to this treaty, all these things proposed are to be allowed and approved of by the Pope, that he may give an apostolical benediction, and a dispensation necessary to effect the marriage." 351 CHAPTER XL King James the Dupe of Spanish Policy Duplicity of Philip the Third Arrival from Rome of the Dispensation respecting the Infanta's projected Marriage with Charles New Difficulties Concessions on the part of James and the Prince Charles's Departure from Spain, and narrow Escape at Sea His Arrival at Portsmouth, and enthusiastic Reception in London The Infanta's Attachment to Charles, and her Feelings on his Departure The Match finally broken off. IT has been doubted, even if Charles had become a convert to the Church of Borne, whether the Spanish match could ever have been accomplished ; or, indeed, whether the Spanish Court ever sincerely intended its fulfilment. Certainly, in the early stages of its discussion, James vras the mere dupe of Spanish policy.* It must be remembered, however, that the negotiation was protracted during a part of the reigns of two successive monarchs, whose opinions on the subject appear to have been'widely different. Philip the Third, the father of the Infanta, who died during the progress of the discussion, had cer- tainly not the remotest intention that the treaty should ever terminate in marriage. This fact is sufficiently * Qondomar, the Spanish ambassador, perfectly succeeded in con- vincing James of the sincerity of his court. In a letter to the Duke of Lerma, he boasts that he has lulled King James so fast asleep, that he flatters himself that neither the cries of his daughter, the Queen of Bohemia, nor of her children, nor the repeated solicitations of his parliament and his subjects in their behalf, will have the effect of arousing him from bis lethargy. Ada Regia, p. 549. 352 CHARLES I. apparent from the following letter addressed by his son, Philip the Fourth, to his minister Olivarez : it is dated 5th November, 1622, about three months before the Prince set out on his romantic expedition. " The King, my father, declared at his death that his intent never was to marry my sister, the Infanta Donna Maria, with the Prince of "Wales, which your uncle Don Balthazer understood, and so treated this match, ever with intention to delay it, notwithstanding it is now so far advanced, that (considering all the averseness of the Infanta to it) * it is time to seek some means to divert the Treaty, which I would have you find out, and I will make it good, whatsoever it be. But in all other things procure the satisfaction of the King of Great Britain (who hath deserved much), and it shall content me, so it be not in the match." f It appears, by this curious document, that Philip the Fourth had originally been as much averse to the fulfil- ment of the treaty as had been his father, Philip the Third. The hope, however, of converting Charles from heresy ; the latter's great popularity in Spain, and the personal interest which he had acquired in the heart of the Infanta, probably turned the scale in his favour. Certainly, Bristol, the English Ambassador, was at this time fully satisfied with the sincerity of the Court of Madrid. He writes to the Bishop of Lincoln, " It may be, your lordship will hear many complaints, that the match never was, nor yet is intended : I beseech your lordship to give little belief in that kind, and the effects will now speedily declare the truth, if the fault be not on our side." J Lord Herbert of Cherbury, a man of strong sense, and who, from his situation as Ambassador * She had not then seen the Prince. t Cabala, p. 341 ; Wilson, p. 225. J Cabala, p. 99. CHARLES I. 353 at Paris, had much intercourse with the elder sister of the Infanta, the Queen of France, was also fully satisfied with the sincerity of the Spanish Court at this period ; the Queen, moreover, candidly confessed to him that her sister was very well inclined towards the Prince.* At last, about six months after the arrival of Charles at Madrid, the dispensation was received from Rome. The affair, to all appearance, was now concluded, and all anxiety at an end. But whether this important document was accompanied by secret instructions from the Pope, or whether the Court of Spain was willing to take further advantages of the Prince's undisguised anxiety to make the Infanta his bride, new difficulties unexpectedly arose. The Spaniards insisted on some fresh articles, as regarded religion, being inserted in the marriage treaty, and conse- quently the correspondence between the Courts of London and Madrid was again renewed. Among other articles, it was required, and, we are sorry to say, was eventually agreed to on the part of Charles, that he should be prepared at all times to listen to the arguments and exhortations of the adversaries of his faith ; while, on the other hand, no one was to pre- sume to tamper, either directly or indirectly, with the religious principles of his bride.t An oath was also privately taken by James, that the Papists should have free exercise of their religion throughout his dominions. These additional articles having been at length duly subscribed to, so satisfied was James once more of the successful termination of the treaty, that he was heard to exclaim in the fulness of his satisfaction, " Now all the devils in hell cannot hinder it." A bystander wittily * Lord Herbert of Cherbury, Life of Himself, p. 167. t Wilson, p. 247. VOL. I. A A. 354 CHARLES I- observed, that there were no devils left in hell, for they had all gone to Spain to assist in the match. But again new difficulties arose. When apparently on the eve of fulfilment, the demise of Pope Gregory the Fifteenth proved the final hindrance to the marriage. The Spaniards insisted that a fresh dispensation was necessary from the new Pope. Charles naturally became annoyed by the frequent delays, and Buckingham, having quarrelled with Olivarez, was no less disgusted with the Spanish Court, and consequently made use of every argument to persuade the Prince to return to his own country. Even James himself, sanguine as he had so lately been, began to entertain doubts of the sincerity of the Spaniards. He wrote to Buckingham, that the Court of Madrid could hardly entertain any cordial intention to complete the treaty ; conjuring him to bring back the Prince with all speed; or, if the latter should be still unwise enough to remain, he charges his beloved favourite, on his allegiance, to come away, and to leave the Prince to the prosecution of his own affairs.* On the 12th of September, 1623, after having been admitted to an audience with the Queen and the Infanta, Charles, leaving the marriage to be performed by proxy, at length turned his back upon Madrid. Some suspicions there certainly were, that the Spanish Court intended to detain him, and it was whispered that his departure would be a secret one. When Olivarez mentioned the latter suspicion to Buckingham, the reply of the Duke did him great credit : he retorted haughtily, that " if love had induced the Prince to steal out of his own country, fear should never make him run out of Spain ; and that he would depart with an equipage such as became the Priuce of Wales." The Earl of Butland was * Wilson, p. 249. CHARLES I. 855 at the time cruising along the Spanish coast, ready to support the vaunt of Buckingham, -with a powerful fleet.* The Prince's attendants were overjoyed at their ap- proaching departure. They had long complained that they had nothing to do but to play at cards. The King of Spain and his two brothers accompanied Charles as far as the Escurial, about twenty miles from Madrid, and would eren have attended him to the place of embarkation, had not the Queen been fast approaching her confinement. At the spot where they parted, writes Howell, " there passed wonderful great endearments and embraces in divers postures between them a long time ; and in that place there is a pillar to be erected as a monument to posterity. There are some grandees, and Count Gondomar, with a great train besides, gone with him to the Marine, to the sea-side, which will be many days' journey, and must needs put the King of Spain to a great expense, besides his seven months' entertainment here. "We hear that when he passed through Valladolid, the Duke of Lerma was retired thence for a time by special command from the King, lest he might have dis- course with the Prince, whom he extremely desired to see : this sunk deep into the old Duke, insomuch that he said, that of all the acts of malice which Olivarez had ever done him, he resented this more than any. He bears up yet under the Cardinal's habit, which hath kept him from many a foul storm, that might have fallen upon him else, from the temporal power."f The name of this personage carries back our recollection to the part assigned to him in the inimitable novel, " Gil Bias ; " while the narrative of the Prince's visit to Valladolid is not rendered less interesting, from its having taken place during the period when Le Sage sketched the * Howell, p. 147. t Hid. A A2 356 CHARLES I. manners of the Spanish grandees. This was the same Duke of Lerma who was the patron of Gil Bias, and it was for Philip the Fourth, the brother of the Infanta, that Gil Bias is represented as procuring the frail Catalina, and as suffering his memorable imprisonment in the Tower of Segovia. At St. Andero, where the English fleet awaited him, Charles narrowly escaped being drowned. He had been entertaining the Spanish grandees on board his own ship, and was courteously conducting them to the shore in his barge, when the wind suddenly arose. The darkness of the night, and the fury of the storm, prevented them alike from reaching the land, or regaining the ship. The rowers becoming faint from exertion, and nothing appeared left but to trust themselves to the mercy of the ocean, when fortunately they observed a light from one of the vessels of the fleet. It was, however, not without extreme difficulty and hazard that they reached the ship, nor without encountering a further risk of being dashed to pieces, that they were at length safely assisted on board.* "Waller celebrated the Prince's escape in a juvenile poem, remarkable, to the curious in poetical anecdote, as having been written only twenty -five years after the death of Spenser.f Now had his Highness bid farewell to Spain, And reached the sphere of his own power, the main ; With British bounty in his ship he feasts The Hesperian princes, his amazed guests, To find that watery wilderness exceed The entertainments of their great Madrid. Charles was no sooner in safety on the bosom of that element, upon which an Englishman seldom knows fear, than his first remark was on the " great weakness and * Eushworth, vol. i., p. 104. t Fenton's Waller, Notes, p. 4. CHARLES I. 357 folly of the Spaniards," in having allowed him to depart out of their dominions.* It was the highest compliment he could have paid to their generosity. Charles arrived at Portsmouth on the 5th of October, 1623. The event is recorded by a bust of the Prince, which, with a suitable inscription, is affixed to the walls of that town, where it may still be seen. Under what circumstances this inter- esting memorial escaped Ui& fury of the civil wars does not appear. The return of Charles to his native country was hailed by the populace of London with a warmth of enthusiasm which he scarcely deserved. Tables were spread in the streets ; wine and sack flowed everywhere abundantly, and bonfires, and the joyous peal of bells, enlivened the night. Passing directly through London, Charles and Buckingham hastened to Royston, to pay their respects to the King. Apprised of their arrival, James met them on the staircase, and throwing his arms round the necks of " Babie Charles and Dogge Steenie," wept like a child. The Infanta is the person most to be pitied through- out the whole of this memorable affair ; can we but regret that a young and interesting Princess should have been rendered the victim of mere political expediency ? She appears to have become really attached to Charles, and is said to have feelingly observed, that had he really loved her, he would never have quitted her.f At his departure she caused mass to be performed daily for his prosperous voyage. She had applied herself to learn the English language ; and even went down on her knees to the Bang to persuade him to consent to the restitution of the Palatinate. Bristol, the English ambassador, * Rushworth, vol. i., p. 104. t Wilson, p. 251. J Cabala, p. 216. 358 CHARLES I. dwells almost with enthusiasm on the Infanta's feelings and her constancy. In a letter from Madrid, dated 21st of September, 1623, after alluding to the prevalence of a report that Charles had no intention to fulfil his engage- ment, he thus writes to the Prince : " I dare assure your Highness, it hath not been possible for any to raise in her the least shadow of mistrust or doubt of want of your Highness's affection, but she hath with shew of displea- sure reproved those that have presumed to speak that kind of language ; and herself never speaketh of your Highness, but with that respect and shew of affection, that all about her tell me of it with a little wonder. There was of late in some a desire here, that, before your Highness's embarking, the Princess ought to have sent unto your Highness some token, whereunto I assure your Highness that the Countess of Olivarez was not backward, nor, as I am assured, the Princess herself; but this was not to be done without the allowance of the Junta ; and they, for a main reason, alleged that, in case your Highness should fail in what had been agreed, she would by these further engagements be made unfit for any other match ; which coming to her knowledge, I hear she was infinitely much offended, and said, that those of the Junta were maxaderos, to think her a woman for a second wooing, or to receive the parabien twice for several husbands. The truth is, that now, in your High- ness's absence, she much more avowedly declareth her affection to your Highness, than ever she did at your being here ; and your Highness cannot believe how much the King, and she, and all the Court, are taken with your Highness's daily letters to the King and her." * Clarendon State Papers, Appendix, p. 19. Archbishop Spotswood writes, that the Prince left Madrid because he saw nothing was really intended. He adds, that it was intimated to Charles, that "if the CHARLES I. 359 In the mean time, it seems to have been still believed, both in London and Madrid, that the match was pro- gressing in the most prosperous manner, and that the arrival of the second dispensation was all that was wanting to render it definitive. At St. James's a Catholic chapel was in the progress of being built, of which the Spanish ambassador had laid the foundation- stone. The Infanta's portrait was to be seen in every street in London, and her arrival was almost daily ex- pected. At Madrid also, she was already styled the Princess of England ; her suite had not only been selected, but had even provided themselves with their liveries ; and the English Ambassadors, the Earl of Bristol and Sir Walter Ashton, refused, as Princess of England, to stand covered before her. " The Infanta," writes Howell, " is providing divers suits of rich cloaths for his Highness of perfumed amber leather; some em- broidered with pearl, some with gold, some with silver. Her family is a settling apace, and most of her officers and ladies are known already : we want nothing now but one despatch more from Rome, and then the mar- riage will be solemnised, and all things consummated."* The admiration which the Prince's gallantry had excited in Madrid, by no means subsided after his departure, and even to this period is not quite forgotten. " Never," they said, " was Princess so bravely wooed." In the collection of royal letters in the British Museum there is an interesting one in Spanish from the Infanta to James. match should be further pressed, the Infanta, to eschew the same, should presently into the house of los Discalceaios, a monastery of bare- footed nuns." The Archbishop was certainly in a situation to acquire the best information, and his book is even dedicated to Charles, but his account is so different from that of other writers (some of whom were as likely to be as well informed as himself) that it is impossible to regard his version as correct. JSpotswood, p. 545. * Howell's Letters, p. 148, 360 CHARLES I. The neglected Infanta afterwards formed a splendid alliance with, the Emperor Ferdinand the Third. She died in 1646. At last, the second dispensation actually arrived from Eome. A day was fixed by the Spanish Court for the performance of the marriage by proxy ; cannons were fired off as soon as the tidings became publicly known : a church was covered with tapestry for the occasion, and bonfires were lighted throughout the whole of Spain. But whether the sincerity of the Spaniards was still doubted, or whether, as is generally supposed, the argu- ments and personal prejudices of Buckingham induced Charles to secede from his engagement, it is now impos- sible to ascertain : certain it is, however, that from the Court of England emanated the final interruption of the match. A message was despatched by James to Madrid, insisting that, unless the restitution of the Palatinate was positively conceded, the treaty must be considered as at an end. It was replied by the Spanish monarch, that the concession did not rest in himself, but that he was ready to assist England with an army. His word was either really doubted, or was affected to be disbe- lieved: and Philip, observing the English Court to be determined on a breach, refused to admit the Earl of Bristol to any further audience. He insisted, also, that all correspondence with the Infanta should instantly cease, and that she should no longer be regarded or addressed as Princess of England.* Such was the termination of the famous Spanish match, in which the duplicity manifested by the Court of Madrid at the com- mencement of the negotiations was met, it would appear, by a scarcely less creditable line of conduct on the part of the Court of England at their close. * Wilson, p. 257. GEORGE EAEX OF BRISTOL. OB/1677, 361 CHAPTER XII. Charles proclaimed King Base Accusations against Charles Curious Omens Private Vows made by Charles The Sortes Yirgilianae Treaty of Marriage between Charles and Henrietta Maria of France Deed of Dispensation Solemnisation of the Marriage Arrival of the Queen Influence of Henrietta over her Husband The Queen subjected to humiliating Penances Ecclesiastical Retinue of the Queen Insulting Conduct of the Foreign Priests The French Retinue ordered by Charles to quit the Kingdom Interview between the King and Marshal de Bassompierre Pre- sumption of Madame St. George Henrietta's passionate Conduct on the Departure of her Favourites Contumacy of the Foreigners Their Expulsion from Somerset House, and Embarcation at Dover. Oy the 27th of March, 1625, died King James, and, within a quarter of an hour afterwards, Charles was solemnly proclaimed at the Court-gate of Theobalds, where his father had breathed his last. It was considered as rather ominous, that Sir Edward Zouch, the Knight Marshal, instead of styling the new King the " rightful and indubitable heir," proclaimed him as the rightful and dulitable one : he was corrected in his error by the secretary.* Such is the malignity of human nature, that Charles was actually accused of having been a participator in the murder of his father. Peyton, in his Divine Catastrophe, and Lilly, in his Life of Charles, speak openly of the charge ; but Milton goes further, and has even lent the credit of his name to an infamous and contemptible * HowelL, p. 174. 3G2 CHARLES I. slander, which he could not but have known to be false. Addressing Salmasius, he writes : " I will let you see how like Charles was to Nero ; Nero, you say, put to death his own mother ; but Charles murdered both his Prince and his father, by poison. For, to omit other evidences, he that -would not suffer a Duke that was accused of it, to come to his trial, must needs have been guilty of it himself." Whatever the oilier evidences, alluded to by Milton, may have been, they have certainly not descended to posterity : doubtless they owed their fanciful birth to the acrimonious republicanism of the great poet. The insinuations of Peyton and Lilly are beneath contempt, and appear solely to have originated in Charles having dissolved the Parliament which accused Buckingham of having poisoned his father. Charles undoubtedly believed his favourite to be innocent, and though the line of conduct which he pursued on this occasion may be considered blameable, or at least unwise, yet the whole tenor of his life must defend him from so foul a charge. It must not be omitted, that, on the 24th of February, 1648, the absurd and wicked charge was revived by the republican party in the House of Commons.* As the attack was idle, it fell harmless, and alone reflected discredit on the maligners. Notwithstanding that it was opposed to all former precedents, Charles affectionately insisted on presiding as chief mourner at the funeral of his father. Young as he was, it was the third time that he had performed the same melancholy office ; having previously attended his mother, and his brother Prince Henry, to their last homes. The superstitious argued from the circumstance, that a career of sorrow was in store for the survivor.f * Walker's Hist, of Independence, part i., p. 74. + ffeylin's Life of Laud, p. 128. The fact that the plague was CHARLES I. 363 Many, indeed, were the incidents on which, even when in the very height of his prosperity, his contemporaries founded a similar belief: and when we remember the subsequent misfortunes which befel the unhappy Charles, we cannot but regard them as very curious coincidences. Among other instances may be mentioned the verse which Seuhouse, Bishop of Carlisle (who had been his chaplain when Prince of Wales), selected as the text for his coronation sermon : Kev. ii. 10, " Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of Life," &c. This passage was considered by the superstitious as far more suitable for his funeral sermon, than as adapted to the brilliant occasion on which it was delivered. No less ominous importance was attached to the fact of the wing of the gold dove having been completely broken off during the ceremony. Charles himself, probably to denote the purity of his intentions, had selected a robe of white, instead of purple, as his coronation dress. Purple having been ever con- sidered the badge of sovereignty, as white was the emblem of innocence, it was inferred that hereafter he would have to rely upon his own virtues and integrity, rather than upon the greatness of regal power. His neglecting to ride through the city, attended with that state which had graced his forefathers on the days of their coronation, was also deemed portentous and ill-advised.* raging at the time of his accession, was also considered to be a prog- nostic of future evil : the same disease, however, was committing its havoc when his father commenced his prosperous reign. It is said that these two plagues were both generated in one parish, Whitechapel ; that they broke out in the same house, and on the same day of the month. Kennett, vol. iii. The fact of the blood of a wounded falcon falling on the neck of the famous bust of Charles, by Bernini, when on its way to Whitehall, is a singular and well-known coincidence. * Heylin, p. 148 ; Weldon, p. 177. 364< CHARLES I. Even the melancholy expression of his countenance was held to be ominous of future ill. When his picture was conveyed to Borne, to afford the design of a bust, the artist turned to the gentleman who brought it : he hoped, he said, it was not the face of a near relation, for it was one of the most unfortunate he had ever seen, and, " according to all the rules of art, the person whose it was must die a violent death." * Charles himself was singularly superstitious, even for the age in which he lived. It was a strange infirmity in an otherwise strong and religious mind. "We are assured by Lilly, the astrologer, that he sent, on more than one occasion, to consult him during his misfortunes ; indeed, the fact of his having done so is supported by other authority. Charles himself mentioned to the Bishop of London a remarkable shock which he experienced in later years, at his trial. As he was leaning on his staff, the gold head broke off and fell to the ground : he con- sidered it, as it certainly was, a remarkable omen.f Another weakness of Charles was to bind himself to a particular line of conduct by secret obligations. On one occasion, when on a visit at Latimers, a seat of the Earl of Devonshire, he drew aside Dr. Sheldon, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury, and placed in his hands a paper, which he desired him to copy, and afterwards to return it to him. This document detailed certain measures which he proposed hereafter to adopt for the glory of God, and for the advancement of the church ; intimating that he had privately bound himself by the most awful vow to ensure their accomplishment. One particular obligation, which the paper contained, was to perform public penance for the injustice he had been guilty of to Lord Strafford, in consenting to his death. * Welwood, p. 80. f Sir P. Warwick's Memoirs, p. 339. CHARLES I. 865 In delivering this paper to Sheldon, Charles conjured him in the most solemn manner to remind him of his contract, should he hereafter ever find him in a condition to perform any one of the articles which it contained.* A similar instance of mental infirmity is recorded in the King's own language, and bears the following attesta- tion of Sheldon : " This is a true copy of the King's vow, which was preserved thirteen years underground, by me, " GILB. SHELDON." The document itself is dated Oxford, 13th April, 1646, and runs as follows : " I do hereby promise and solemnly vow, in the pre- sence and for the service of Almighty God, that if it shall please the Divine Majesty, of his infinite goodness, to restore me to my just kingly rights, and to re-establish me in my throne, I will wholly give back to his church all those impropriations which are now held by the Crown ; and what lands soever I do now, or should now, or do enjoy, which have been taken either away from any episcopal see, or any cathedral or collegiate church, from any abbey, or other religious house. I likewise promise for hereafter to hold them for the church, under such reasonable fines and rents as shall be set down by some conscientious persons whom I propose to choose, with all uprightness of heart, to direct me in this particular. And I most humbly beseech God to accept of this my vow, and to bless me in the design I have now in hand, through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen. " CHABLES KEX." f * Perinchief, p. 233. t Lives of the Archbishops, from Harris, vol. ii., p. 63. 366 CHARLES I. Charles was one day sauntering with the ill-fated Lord Falkland in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, when a splendid copy of Virgil was brought, among other books, for his inspection. Lord Falkland proposed to his Majesty to try his fortune by the Sortes Virgiliana? : that is, to open the volume, and from the passage on which the eye first falls, to glean a fanciful prognostica- tion of future events. Charles accordingly dipped into the book, and hit, ominously enough, on the following passage : it forms part of the imprecation which Dido pours forth against JEneas, and is thus translated by Dryden, Yet let a race untamed, and haughty foes, His peaceful entrance with dire arms oppose ; Oppressed with numbers in the unequal field, His men discouraged, and himself expelled ; Let him for succour sue from place to place, Torn from his subjects, and his sons' embrace ! First let him see his friends in battle slain, And their untimely fate lament in vain ; And when at length the cruel war shall cease, On hard conditions may he buy his peace, Nor let him then enjoy supreme command, But fall untimely by some hostile hand, And be unburied on the barren sand.* Lord Falkland, observing by the King's countenance that he was concerned at the circumstance, and imagining that, should he himself open the book, he might fall upon some indifferent passage, which would rob the preceding * .Eneid, lib. iv., v. 615. At bello audacis populi vexatns et armis, Finibus extends, complexu avulsus liili, Auxilium imploret, videatqne indigna suorum Funera : nee, cum se sub leges pacis iniquse Tradiderit, i^egno aut optatA luce fruatur ; Bed cadat ante diem, mediaque inhumatus arenfL CHAELES I. 367 incident of its importance, instantly proposed to try his own fortune. The lines, which he chanced to select, were still more applicable to Ms future fate. It was the beautiful lament of Evander at the untimely death of his son Pallas :- Pallas ! thou hast failed thy plighted word ; To fight with caution, not to tempt the sword : 1 warned thee, but in vain ; for well I knew \Vhat perils youthful ardour will pursue : That boiling blood would carry thee too far ; Young as thou wert to dangers, raw to war ! curst assay of arms, disastrous doom, Preludes of bloody fields, and fights to come.* In 1624, during the lifetime of King James, the Earl of Holland had been sent into France, to sound the feelings of the French Court regarding a match between Charles and Henrietta Maria. This Princess was the third daughter of Henry the Great, and sister of Louis the Thirteenth, the reigning king of France. After a com- plicated and rather lengthy negotiation, a treaty of marriage was definitively signed at Paris, on the 10th of November, 1624 : it consists of articles scarcely less disgraceful to the English Court, or disadvantageous to the English nation, than those of the celebrated * ^Ineid, lib. xi., v. 152. Non haec, Palla, dederas promissa parenti : Cautius ut ssevo velles te credere Marti. Ilaud ignarus eram, quantum nova gloria in armis, Kt prsedulce decus primo certamine posset. Primitise juvenis misene, bellique propinqui Jhira rudimenta. The story of Charles and Lord Falkland dipping into the Sortes Yirgilianse has been often related : the author, however, has been able to trace it no further than to Dr. Welwood's Memoirs of the last hundred years which preceded the Revolution of 1688, p. 90. Welwood, unfortunately, omits to mention his authority for the narration. 368 CHAELES I. Spanish treaty. Indeed so similar are the two in- struments, as well in terms as in spirit, that the one would appear almost to be a transcript of the other. The only really important alteration is in the nineteenth article of the French treaty, in which it is provided that the children born of the marriage shall be brought up by their mother, not merely to the age of ten years, as had been agreed upon in the Spanish compact, but till they should attain their thirteenth year ; a dangerous concession, considering the unwearying vigilance of the Romish priests, and that it comprehended a period of life when the heart is most open to impressions, whether good or evil. Some secret articles were also sworn to by James and Louis. By these it was provided that, throughout England, all Catholic prisoners should be set at liberty ; that they should no longer be liable to be searched, or otherwise molested, on account of their religion, and that the goods of which they had been deprived should be restored. The deed of dispensation, by which Louis the Thir- teenth guaranteed to the See of Eome that the King ot England should faithfully fulfil the articles of the treaty, is another curious document. D' Israeli, in his ingenious work, the " Curiosities of Literature," speaks of a "re- markable and unnoticed document," namely, "A most solemn obligation contracted with the Pope and the Queen's brother, the King of France, to educate her children as Catholics, and only to choose Catholics to attend them." "Had this been known," he adds, "either to Charles, or to the English nation, Henrietta could never have been permitted to ascend the English throne."* It is a pity to disturb this justification of Charles, but unfortunately for that monarch, there can be little doubt * Curiosities of Literature, vol. v., p. 243. CHARLES I. 369 but that he was perfectly well acquainted with all the circumstances; indeed, the articles mentioned by Mr. D'Israeli as most objectionable in the deed of dispen- sation, are inserted, at least in spirit, in the treaty itself; a document which, as a matter of course, had not only been seen, but had been solemnly sworn to, by Charles. The subject is rendered of considerable importance, when we remember that the two sons of Henrietta Maria, Charles the Second and his brother James, who afterwards successively inherited the crown, lived and died Eoman Catholics.* * It may not be uninteresting to transcribe the particular passages in the deed of dispensation, which have been referred to by D'Israeli, in order that we may compare them with the parallel ones in tho actual treaty : EXTRACT FROM THE DEED OP DISPENSATION. "Art. 3. Conveniunt, ut serenissima Madama Henrietta Maria, omnesque ejus domestici, familiares, servi, necnon domi forisque ministri, et familia universa familiarum eidem pro tempore servientium, eorumque filii et descendentes, libere profiteri et exercere possint re- ligiouem apostolicam Catholicam Romanam ; ac propterea non solum Londini, sed etiam in omnibus locis et regnis ipsi Regi Magnae Britannia? subjectis, in cunctis regis ipsius palatiis, et ubicunque prsedicta Madama habitaverit aut extiterit, habeat unam ecclesiam," &c. "Art. 7. Conveniunt, ut liberorum qui, ex regio hoc matrimonio nascentur, cura et educatio, omni modo, ex eorum ortu usque ad annum setatis decimum tertium completum, ad Madamam illorum matrem pertineant ; ac omnes person* proli ministerium quodcumque presti- turse usque ad annum tertium decimum completum, ut supra, a prsedicta Madam libere eligantur, atque ejusdem familiae annume- rentur, juribusque et privilegiis aliorum familiarium gaudeant et potiantur." EXTRACTS FROM THE MARRIAGE TREATY. "Art. 7. The free exercise of the Roman Catholic Apostolic religion shall be granted to Madame, as likewise to all the children that shall be bom of this marriage." "Art 14. All the domestics Madame shall bring into England shall 370 CHARLES I. The marriage of Charles and Henrietta was solemnised at Paris with great splendour ; the Duke de Chevreuse performing the office of proxy for Charles. The cere- mony took place on a theatre, erected for the purpose before the Cathedral of Notre Dame. On the 12th of June, 1625, Henrietta arrived at Dover, and on the follow- ing night the marriage was consummated at Canterbury. The private account of these events are deferred to the Memoir of the Queen. Considerable pains have been taken to prove that Henrietta exercised an undue influence, both domestic and political, over her husband. One writer, without even hinting at his authority, speaks of her peremptorily insisting upon having charge of the Prince of Wales.* Another writer Horace "Walpole solely, we believe, on the suspicious authority of Peyton, informs us that when Charles, on the occasion of some jealousy, restrained the Earl of Holland to his house, Henrietta refused to be reconciled to the King till the restraint was taken off.f Such and similar instances have been frequently brought forward as proofs of the uxoriousness of Charles, and many passages have been quoted, from his letters to his Queen, as proofs of his spiritless submission. Certainly it was Charles's great misfortune, that he was too easily wrought upon to follow the advice of others, and not unfrequently of persons less gifted than himself. Milton says of him, in his panegyric on Cromwell, " "Whether with his enemies or his friends, in the court or in the be French Catholics, chosen by the Most Christian King ; and in the room of those that shall die, she shall take other French Catholics, 'with the consent, however, of the King of Great Britain." "Art. 19. The children which shall be born of this marriage shall be brought up by Madame, their mother, till the age of thirteen years." * Harris, vol. iv., p. 25. t Life of Essex, in Royal and Noble Authors. CHARLES I. 371 camp, Be was always in the hands of another ; now of his wife, then of the bishops ; now of the peers, then of the soldiery ; and last, of his enemies : that for the most part he followed the worser counsels, and, almost always, of the worser men." There is much justice as well as acrimony in this remark. But the private history of the dismissal of the Queen's French servants is alone sufficient to redeem the cha- racter of Charles from a sweeping charge of connubial subserviency. The insufferable insolence of these people is scarcely to be conceived. Nothing could be more degrading, than that a Queen of England should have been compelled, by a foreign priesthood, to walk bare- footed to Tyburn ; not merely, too, in the common exercise of her faith, but to glorify the memory of the detestable contrivers of the Gunpowder conspiracy. Neither, as appears by a letter of the period, did the indignity stop here. " Had they not also," says a writer of the time, " made her dabble in the dirt in a foul morning from Somerset House to St. James's, her Luci- ferian confessor riding along by her in his coach ! Tea, they have made her to go bare-foot, to spin, to eat her meat out of tryne (wooden) dishes, to wait at the table and serve her servants, with many other ridiculous and absurd penances."* Charles and Henrietta had been married but a short time, when the priests, French as well as English, flocked in such numbers to the Queen's private apartments, as to cause the greatest disquietude to Charles. He told them on one occasion, that he had already granted them so much liberty in public, that he had at least a right to expect exemption from domestic intrusion. More than one disgraceful scene was the consequence of this * Ellis's Original Letters, vol. iii., p. 233. B B 2 372 CHARLES I. importation of foreign zealots. The King and Queen were on one occasion banqueting in public, when the Queen's confessor impudently placed himself side by side with the King's officiating chaplain. As soon as the latter commenced the usual grace, the confessor struck up with a Latin benediction. Provoked by the interruption, tho chaplain thrust his adversary on one side, and continued the grace. The priest then went over to the Queen's side, and re-commenced his benediction with renewed energy. The King, however, very sensibly cut the matter short by drawing one of the dishes towards him, and making signs to the carvers to commence their duties. As soon as dinner was over, the con- fessor proceeded, in like manner, to return thanks : the chaplain, however, had obtained the start, when each endeavoured to silence the other by the loudness of his voice. Charles very properly took the Queen by the hand, and hastily withdrew her from the disreputable scene.* The Queen's ecclesiastical retinue consisted of a young bishop, whose age was under thirty, and twenty-nine priests. Fifteen of these were scholars, and the remainder Theatines, an order of Friars, whose principal occupa- tion consisted in singing psalms.f In addition to this promising party, there were a number of male and female attendants, who it is asserted, swelled the French train from the originally stipulated number of sixty, to as many as four hundred and forty persons-! These people lost no opportunity of fomenting quarrels be- tween Charles and his Queen ; while, naturally enough, the priests on their part, used every exertion to restore * Letter from Meade to Sir M. Stuteyille, Curiosities of Literature, vol. v., p. 249. t Ellis's Original Letters, vol. iii., p. 201. J fbid. CHARLES I. 373 the Pope's authority in England. Seminaries were formed for educating children in the Romish faith ; the houses of the French attendants became a rendezvous for the discontented Papists ; the Catholic members of Parliament were secretly tampered with ; and, indeed, no opportunity was neglected of obtaining proselytes to the ancient faith. The perpetual discords, and captious discontent, of this foreign establishment, are alluded to in most of the letters of the period. Not satisfied with the numberless immunities which had been provided for them by the marriage contract, these foreign grumblers, forgetting that the King of England was put to the charge of 240/. a day for their subsistence, persisted in the most frivolous and harassing complaints of ill-usage and discomfort. " The French," observes a letter of the period, " seem to be discontented, because they have not allowance to keep themselves, their wives, and children ; though they have more by 70001. a year, than even Queen Anne had." * Charles was not by nature inclined to be petulant, but his temper was at length entirely overcome by the con- tinual broils of his wife's domestics, and the manner in which they insulted the prejudices of his people. On one occasion, the priests sent to complain to him that a Chapel at St. James's, which had been provided for their use by the marriage treaty, was progressing but slowly towards completion : " Tell them," said the King indignantly, "that if the Queen's closet is not large enough, they may use the great chamber ; and if the great chamber is not wide enough, they may make use of the garden ; and if the garden does not suit their purpose, they may go to the park, which is the fittest * Letter from Sir John North to the Earl of Leicester. Collins' g Memorials, vol. iii., p. 364. 374 CHARLES I. place of all." * This last remark, it would seem, did not so much apply to the number of the French Catholics in. general, as to the concourse of English priests, who seized every opportunity of attending the celebration of mass in the Queen's apartments. This assemblage, illegal as far as the English ecclesiastics were concerned, became eventually so numerous, that even the Queen herself, on one occasion, rose from her seat, and rebuking the latter for their indelicate zeal, commanded them peremptorily to retire.f Their numbers, however, still increasing, proper officers were at length stationed at the entrance of the Queen's chapel, in order forcibly to pre- vent their ingress. Some indecent scenes were the consequence ; the French Catholics drawing their swords in defence of their English brethren, and resisting the interference ot the guard. On one occasion, in the Royal Chapel, a Popish noble- man is described as " prating on purpose louder than the chaplain prayed." Charles sent him a message to be silent : " Either," he said, " let him come and do as we do, or else I will make him prate further off." One of these squabbles nearly cost James the Second, then a baby, his life. His nurse, being a Boman Catholic, refused to take the oath of allegiance. As she was a favourite with the Queen, instead of her being sent away, some zealous persons were employed to attempt her con- version. Their arguments and threats, however, so terrified the poor young woman, that it spoiled her milk, and the health of the infant materially suffered. It was now proposed to send her away, but the Queen took her dismissal so much to heart, that the oath was dis- pensed with, and her milk probably recovered its virtue. * Ellis's Original Letters, vol. iii., p. 202. f Ibid., p. 204. t Strafford's Letters, vol. i., 141. CHARLES I. 375 At length, so effectually was the indignation, both of Charles and his subjects, aroused by a long series of impertinences and insults, that the former came to the determination of ejecting the entire party, whether by forcible or by pacific means, from his dominions. Anxious, however, if possible, to effect their departure without resorting to violent measures, which might possibly have led to a rupture with the Court of France, he wrote in the first instance to the Duke of Buckingham, who was then in Paris, desiring him to communicate with the Queen-mother on the subject. " You must advertise my mother-in-law," writes Charles, " that I must remove all those instruments that are causes of unkindness between her daughter and me, few or none of her servants being free of this fault in one kind or other ; therefore, I would be glad that she might find a means to make themselves suitors to be gone. If this be not, I hope there can be no exceptions taken at me to follow the example of Spain and Savoy in this particular.* So requiring of thee a speedy answer of this business, (for the longer it is delayed the worse it will grow,) I rest, " Your loving, faithful, constant friend, " CHABLES BEX." " Hampton Court, the 20th of November, 1625." + This and other repeated remonstrances producing no effect, and his domestic infelicity increasing more and more, Charles resolved to submit to the intolerable * The servants of & Spanish. Princess, who had misbehaved them- selves under similar circumstances, had been expelled from France some years before. See HowelTs Letters, 15th March, 1626. t Harl. MSS. 6988. 376 CHARLES I. nuisance no longer, but at once to carry his threats into execution. It may be readily imagined that no time was lost, by Henrietta and her alarmed favourites, in communicating the intentions of Charles to the French King. Accordingly, the Marshal de Bassompierre (perhaps the fittest person in Europe to conduct so delicate a negotiation) was forthwith despatched to England by the Court of France, with the object of effecting a compromise. It was not without difficulty that Charles could be persuaded even to admit the Ambassador to an audience. "When they did meet, the interview, as might have been expected, proved a stormy one. Thoroughly provoked, the King, in the heat of argument, inquired of Bassompierre why he did not at once execute his commission, and declare war ? "I am not a herald," replied the other, " to declare war, but a marshal of France to make it when declared." Bassompierre has himself described the meeting : " The King," he says, " put himself into a great passion, and I, without losing my respect to him, replied to him in such wise, that, at last, yielding something, he conceded a great deal to me." He adds; " I witnessed there an instance of great boldness, not to say impudence, of the Duke of Buckingham, which was, that when he saw us the most warmed, he ran up suddenly, and threw himself between the King and me, saying I am come to keep the peace between you two." * However, not all the art of the accomplished Bassompierre, not even the fear of incurring a war with France, nor the tears and entreaties of Henrietta, could induce Charles to grant any important concession, and the negotiation terminated by the foreigners receiving renewed orders to depart. It was not till the very last moment, however, when * Embassy to England, p. 51. CHARLES I. 377 the carriages and vessels were in actual readiness for their removal, that Charles thought proper to com- municate to Henrietta and her minions that lie was inexorable, and that the hour of their departure had actually arrived. Entering the Queen's apartments for the purpose of announcing to her the unwelcome tidings, to his great indignation, we are told, he beheld a number of her domestics irreverently dancing and cur- retting in her presence. Taking Henrietta by the hand, he led her to a private chamber, in which he locked himself up with her alone. In the mean time Lord Conway had invited the French Bishop, and others of the ecclesiastics, to accompany him into St. James's Park. Here, in a straightforward manner, he laid before them the King's unquestionable causes for complaint, informing them, in plain terms, that every one of the party, priests as well as laymen, young and old, male and female, must instantly depart the kingdom. The Bishop replied that, as regarded himself, he stood in the light of ::n ambassador, and therefore could not possibly think of quitting the English Court, unless by the express direc- tions of the King his master. However, Lord Conway informed him unhesitatingly, that if he did not depart peacefully, there would not be the least scruple in getting rid of him by force. Having thus communicated with the priests, Lord Conway, attended by the Treasurer and Comptroller of the Household, suddenly made his appearance among the rest of the establishment at Whitehall. Having acquainted them with the King's resolution, he further told them it was his Majesty's pleasure that they should instantly depart for Somerset House, and there await his final instructions. The women, we are in- formed, commenced howling and lamenting as if they 378 CHARLES I. were going to execution ; and, as they evinced the most dogged determination not to move, they were eventually thrust out by the yeomen of the guard, and the doors of their apartments locked behind them.* The same evening, when they were all assembled at Somerset House, the King appeared in person among them. He hoped, he said, that the step he had taken would not be taken amiss by his brother, the King of France; that particular persons among them, for he would mention no names, had fostered discontent between the Queen and himself; and that his domestic happi- ness had been thereby so entirely embittered, that further endurance was out of the question, and he had no choice but to insist on their instant departure. He asked their pardon, he said, if by thus seeking his own safety and peace of mind, he interfered with their interests, adding that his Treasurer had received orders to remunerate every one of them for their year's ser- vice.f Madame St. George, a handsome and flippant French lady, was spokeswoman on the occasion. In vain, however, she endeavoured to expostulate with Charles : his language was even more peremptory than when he had first addressed them. This lady, it seems, had bred more mischief between Charles and * Ellis's Orig. Letters, vol. iii., p. 238. j- In a little work, published at this time, entitled "The Life and Death of that matchless mirror of magnanimity, Henrietta Maria de Bourbon," the King's speech is given as follows : 4( GENTLEMEN AND LADIES, " I am driven to that necessity as that I am personally come to acquaint you, that I very earnestly desire your departure into Prance. True it is, the deportment of some amongst you hath been very offensive to me, but others again have so dallied with my patience, and so highly affronted me, as I cannot, I will not, longer endure it." P. 14. CHARLES I. 379 his Queen than all the rest of the colony put toge- ther, and consequently was personally obnoxious to the King. She had even had the impudence to intrude herself into the coach with the King and Queen, at a period, too, when that honour was on no occasion allowed to a subject.* But the bitterest task for Charles to perform was to encounter the sobs and remonstrances of Henrietta. That she might not behold the departure of her favou- rites from Whitehall, Charles, when he parted from her, had locked the door of her apartment. Her furious conduct on this occasion exceeded all bounds ; she actually tore the hair from her head, and cut her hands severely by dashing them through the glass windows.f These events took place in the early part of July 1626 : nnd yet, notwithstanding the King's firmness and extreme anxiety on the subject, we find the French still domiciled at Somerset House after more than a month had elapsed. The patience of Charles being now entirely worn out, he dictated the following note, evidently written in hearty anger, to the Duke of Buckingham : " STEENIE, " I have received your letter by Die Graeme ; this is my answer : I command you to send all the French away to-morrow out of the town, if you can by fair means (but stick not long in disputing), otherwise force them away, driving them away like so many wild beasts until you have shipped them, and so the devil go with * Life of Henrietta Maria, pp. 14, 17. Madame St. George was the daughter of Madame de Montglat, who had been governess to the <,)ueen. The former was principal lady of the bedchamber to Henrietta. t Howell ; Peyton ; Ellis' s Orig. Letters. 380 CHARLES I. them. Let me have no answer, but of the performance of my command. So I rest, " Your faithful, constant, loving friend, " CHAELES BEX." " Oaking, the 7th of August, 1626." (Superscribed) " The Duke o Buckingham." Four days afterwards, appears the following passage in a letter of the period, dated llth August, 1626. " On Monday last was the peremptory day for the departure of the French ; what time the King's officers attending with coaches, carts, and barges, they contumaciously refused to go, saying they would not depart till they had order from their King ; and above all, the Bishop stood upon his punctilios. This news being sent in post to the King, on Tuesday morning his Majesty despatched away to London the captain of the guard, attended with a com- petent number of his yeomen, as likewise with heralds, messengers, and trumpeters, first, to proclaim his Majes- ty's pleasure at Somerset House gate ; which, if it were not speedily obeyed, the yeomen of the guard were to put it in execution, by turning all the French out of Somerset House by head and shoulders, and shutting the gate after them. "Which news, as soon as the French heard, their courage came down, and they yielded to be gone next tide." * The appointed hour having arrived, Lord Conway, ac- companied by the Treasurer and Comptroller, proceeded to Somerset House, to witness the departure of the mal- contents. Lord Conway, with his colleagues, first attended the Bishop to the door of his coach, where this captious gentleman again made a stand, praying, as a last favour, that he might be allowed to wait for the midnight tide, * Ellis's Orig. Letters, vol. iii., p. 245. CHARLES I. 381 and thus escape the observation and ridicule of the crowd. The request was a natural one, and was civilly granted. It required four days, and nearly forty carriages, to transport the expelled Catholics to Dover. At first they appeared extremely dogged and sullen, but the good fare, and kind entertainment, which everywhere awaited them on the road, as well as the natural vivacity of their country, gradually dispelled their feelings of disgust. Nevertheless, the derision, with which they were occasionally treated by the mob, must have been anything but agreeable. As Madame St. George was stepping into the boat at Dover, a bystander took an aim at her strange head-dress with a stone. An English gentleman, who was escorting her, instantly quitted her side, and running his sword through the offender's body, killed him on the spot.* * Curiosities of Literature, vol. v., p. 256 ; Ellis's Orig. Letters, vol. iii., p. 2iS. 382 CHAPTEE XIII. Charles's Liberality to the Queen's French Attendants Their Attempt at Extortion Misunderstandings between Charles and his Queen Accusations against the conjugal Faith of Charles Letter from him to the Duke of Buckingham The White King Strict Decorum of Charles's Court Magnificent Entertainments Patrician Actors Charles's Exaction of Court Etiquette His unconciliating Manners His Learning and Accomplishments His Respect for Literature His Love of the Arts Sale of his magnificent Collection. THE liberality of Charles, when he found it imperative on him to dismiss the Queen's French attendants, was munificent in the extreme. The list of donations is pre- served among the Harleian MSS., and amounts to 22,672Z. Not content, however, with this profuse gene- rosity, the women commenced such a disgraceful and sweeping attack on the Queen's wardrobe, that they actually left but one gown and " two smocks to her back." Probably jewels and other articles of value were likewise purloined, for the Lords of the Council thought it neces- sary to interfere, and to attempt to enforce a restitution : we are informed, however, that an old satin gown was all they could prevail on the foreigners to return.* The same roguery was also attempted in the Queen's stables ; her Master of the Horse, the Count de Scipieres, laying claim to all the horses and furniture under his charge. * Ellis'e Orig. Letters, vol. iii., p. 2-33. CHARLES I. 333 But the most ingenious attempt was one of extortion, in which the Queen herself, from a weak regard for her favourites, consented to be a party. They drew up a long list of various sums, amounting in all to 19,OOOZ., for which they asserted Henrietta to be their debtor. The Queen admitted the validity of the claims ; but, on being closely interrogated by Charles, eventually acknow- ledged the imposture.* Surely every part of the foregoing narrative tends to exonerate Charles from the sweeping accusation of ma- trimonial tameness, which has been so often and so sedu- lously brought against him. He has himself left us an account of what he endured at this period. Naturally anxious to justify his conduct to his brother-in-law, the Trench King, he despatched Lord Carlton as his Ambas- sador to Paris, and, in his instructions to that nobleman, enters into a full detail of the Queen's behaviour, and of his own feelings. This curious document was originally published by order of the Parliament, in the " King's Cabinet Opened," in which interesting collection it may be consulted by the curious. That Charles, at this period, had frequent misunder- standings with his Queen there can be no question. The fault, however, was most decidedly on the part of Henrietta ; indeed, if we are to consider as authentic the instrument just alluded to, and it certainly bears all the features of truth, there can be little doubt but that, at this period of their married life, she constantly behaved herself towards him with the most insufferable insolence. Their quarrels were doubtless fomented by Buckingham, who trembled lest the Queen should obtain an undue influence over her husband. "The Queen of England," says Madame de Motteville, " related to me, that quickly * Ellis's Orig. Letters, vol. iii., p. 245. 334 CHARLES 1. after her marriage with King Charles the First, she had some dislike to the King her husband, and that Bucking- ham fomented it ; that gentleman saying to her face, that he would set her and her husband at variance, if he could." It is evident, from the account given by Bassompierre of his embassy into England, and also from the letters of the time, that Henrietta was almost daily either in tears or in a passion. Bassompierre mentions an occasion of k the King entering an apartment in which he happened to be conversing with Henrietta, when, ifc appears, she instantly " picked a quarrel " with her husband. " The King," he says, " took me to his chamber, and talked a great deal with me, making me complaints of the Queen, his wife." * With the dis- missal of the French train, peace and comfort seem for the first time to have gladdened the domestic privacy ot Charles. The accusation which has been brought against Charles, of having broken his marriage-vows, rests almost entirely on the assertions of the republican triumvirate, Milton, Peyton, and Lilly, whose charges are as vague as their minds were prejudiced. Lilly remarks, " that he had not heard of above one or two natural children w r hom the King had, or left behind him." f Peyton enters rather more into detail: "The Queen," he says, "was very jealous of the King, insomuch as he loving a very great lady now alive, whom he had for a mistress, sent her lord into the Low Countries ; in the mean while daily courts her at Oxford, in her husband's and the Queen's absence : but the lord returning, the King diverted his affectionate thoughts to another married lady, of whom the Queen was jealous on her return from France, so that on a time * Embassy to England, p. C4. t Lilly's Life of Charles I., p. 11. CHARLES I. 385 this lady being in Queen Mary's presence and dressed a-la-mode, the Queen viewing her round, told the lady she would be a better mistress for a King than a wife for a knight. The lady replied, ' Madam, I had rather be a mistress to a King, than any man's wife in the world.' For which answer she was constrained to absent herself from court a long time." The same writer nlludes to the jealousy and indignation of Charles, on seeing a certain nobleman handing through the court at "Whitehall a, lady whom he " dearly loved." * But the most unfair attack is that of Milton. " Have you the impudence," he writes to Salmasius, "to com- mend his chastity and sobriety who is known to have committed all manner of lewdness in company with his confidant the Duke of Buckingham ? It were to no pur- pose to inquire into the private actions of his life who publicly at plays would embrace and kiss the ladies." All this the republican and " holy poet " must have well known to be false. Let us remember that no authority whatever is adduced to substantiate any one of these charges ; that the name of no lady is even so much as hinted at ; and, moreover, that the writers of this wretched scandal, especially Milton and Peyton, were rancorous and bigoted to the last degree, and we shall have little difficulty in acquitting Charles of the charge of immorality, with which his maligners have so confidently endeavoured to sully his character. So little ground is there, indeed, for accusing Charles of being unfaithful to the marriage vow, that it may be questioned whether (even before marriage, and when surrounded by the temptations of his father's court,) any single instance can be brought forward of his having been engaged in an intrigue. Peyton, indeed, * Divine Catastrophe of the House of Stuart. VOL. i. cc 386 CHARLES I. comes forward with one of his unsupported scandals, and informs us that, when unmarried, he " had for his mistress a great married lady," by whom he had a son, and that at the christening he presented the child with 80007. But this story is also unsupported by any corroborative evidence. With half a nation for his enemies, including numbers only too willing to blacken his character on little or no foundation ; filling, moreover, an exalted situation, where the most unimportant action was eagerly watched and noted down, it is impossible not to believe, that if Charles had been an immoral character, the fact would have des- cended trurnpet-tongued to posterity. The few clumsy charges which have been brought forward may be con- sidered, perhaps, as the strongest evidence of his unsullied virtue. Indeed, the unimpeachable morality of Charles pro- cured for him from his contemporaries the expressive title of the Wlnte King. The name appears to have had some allusion to the dress which he wore at his corona- tion, and partly perhaps, to an absurd construction of an ancient prophecy, published by the astrologer, Lilly, with which he endeavoured to identify Charles.* It may be mentioned that at the funeral of the King, the snow fell thick upon the black velvet pall which covered his coffin. " It was all white," says his faithful follower, Sir Thomas Herbert, " the colour of innocency : so went the White King to his grave," t Osborne gives him the same title, but of course introduces it in derision. The Court of Charles was scarcely less strict than that of his puritanical successor, Oliver Cromwell. Every species of immorality was regarded with horror, and even levity was confined within proper bounds. The King set * See Lilly's Life of Himsftif. f Herbert's Memoirs, p. 206. CHARLES I. 387 the example of decency, and it was followed by his courtiers. In the Memoirs of Colonel Hutchinson, a valuable compliment is paid by his republican lady to the well-regulated propriety of the Court of Charles. " The face of the Court," she says, "was much changed in the change of the King ; for King Charles was temperate, chaste, and serious, so that the fools, mimics, and cata- mites, of the former Court, grew out of fashion ; and the nobility and courtiers, who did not quite abandon their debaucheries, had yet that reverence to the King, to retire into corners to practise them." There is no writer of the period whose productions are not more decent than those of either the preceding or subsequent reigns. The amusements of Charles were such as conferred honour on genius, and gave encouragement to virtue and the arts. Walpole, who hated equally the King and his politics, in a passage not unworthy of the occasion, has at least done justice to his taste, and the high refinement of his Court. " During the prosperous state of the King's affairs, the pleasures of the Court were carried on with much taste and magnificence. Poetry, painting, music, and architecture, were all called in to make them rational amusements ; and I have no doubt but the cele- brated festivals of Louis the Fourteenth were copied from the shows exhibited at "Whitehall, in its time the most polite Court in Europe. Ben Jonaon was the laureat ; Inigo Jones, the inventor of the decorations ; Laniere and Ferabosco composed the symphonies ; the King, the Queen, and the young nobility danced in the interludes." * To the names mentioned by Walpole we may add those of Milton and Selden. The " Masque of Comus," written by the former, and the scenic contri- * Walpole's Works, -rt)L iii., p. 271. o c 2 388 CHARLES I. vances of the latter, may afford some conception of the rational amusements of the Court of Charles. Marshal Bassompiere, in mentioning his state introduction to Charles and Henrietta, observes : " I found the King on a stage raised two steps, the Queen and he on two chairs, who rose at the first bow I made them on coming in. The company was magnificent, and the order exquisite." This was a high compliment from one of the most elegant men, and perhaps the first arbiter of taste, in Europe. Among the " Strafford Letters " we find numerous allusions to the amusements of the Court of Charles, as described to the Earl of Strafford by his amusing corres- pondent Mr. Garrard. On the 9th of January, 1633, the latter writes: "I never knew a duller Christmas than we had at court this year, but one play all the time at "Whitehall, and no dancing at all. The Queen had some little infirmity, the bile, or some such thing, which made her keep in ; only on Twelfth night she feasted the King at Somerset House, and presented him with a play, newly studied, ' The Faithful Shepherdess,' * which the King's players acted in the robes she and her ladies acted their pastoral in last year. I had almost forgot to tell your lordship, that the dicing night the King carried away in James Palmer's hat, 18501. The Queen was his half, and brought him that luck ; she shared presently 900Z. There are two masques in hand, the first of the Inns of Court, which is to be presented on Candlemas day ; the other the King presents the * The Faithful Shepherdess : a Dramatic Pastoral, by J. Fletcher. The Epilogue was spoken by Lady Mary Mordaunt, probably a daughter of Lewis, third Baron Mordaunt. The Faithful Shepherdess had previously met with an unfavourable reception on the publio stage, Biog. Dram., vol. ii., p. 216. CHARLES I. 389 Queen with on Shrove Tuesday, at night. High, ex- pences ; they speak of 20,0001. that it will cost the men of the law." Again, Mr. Garrard writes to the Earl on the 27th of February following : " On Monday after Candlemas day, the gentlemen of the Inns of Court presented their Masque at Court: there were sixteen in number, who rode through the streets in four chariots, and two others to carry their pages and musicians, attended by an hundred gentlemen on great horses, as well clad as I ever saw any : they far exceeded in beauty any Masque that had formerly been presented by those societies, and per- formed the dancing part with much applause. In their company there was one Mr. Eead, of Gray's Inn, whom all the women and some men cried up for as handsome a man as the Duke of Buckingham." * It may be interesting to insert the Dramatis Personae of one of those celebrated Masques, once the glory of Whitehall. The following is the Court " play-bill," at the performance of the Coelum Britannicum, of which Carew, one of the most elegant of love poets, was the author, and Inigo Jones the inventor and director of the machinery. THE NAMES OP THE MASQUES. THE KINO'S MAJESTY. DTTKE OP LENOX, LOED FIELDING, EAEL OF DEVONSHIRE, LOED DIGBY, EAEL OF HOLLAND, LOED DUNGAEVO', EARL OF NEWPORT, LOED DUNLUCB, EAEL OF ELGIN, LOED WHABTON. VISCOUNT GEANDISON, LOED PAGET, LOED EICH, LORD 8ALTOUIT. * Strafford's Letters, vol. i., pp. 177, 207. 390 CHARLES I. THE NAMES OF THE YOUNG LORDS AND NOBLEMEN'S SONS. LOED WALDE>~, MB. THOMAS HOWARD, LOBD CEANBOE>~, MB. THOMAS EGEBTON, LOED BBACKLEY, ME. CHAS. CAVENDISH, LOBD CHANDOS, ME. EOBEBT HOWABD, ME. WILLIAM HEEBEET, ME. HENBY SPENCEE.* Even the political misfortunes, which began to press upon Charles, could not altogether destroy his interest iu the fine arts ; and. though their splendour had certainly somewhat faded, his favourite Masques continued still to be a source of enjoyment. Algernon, Earl of Northum- berland, in a letter to his sister, the Countess of Leicester, dated 5th of December, 1639, thus writes : " The Kin- and Queen have begun to practise their Masque : a com- pany of worse faces did I never see assembled, than the Queen hath gotten together upon this occasion, not one new woman amongst them. My lady Carnarvon condi- tioned, before she would promise to be of the Masque?, that it should not be danced upon a Sunday, for she is grown so devout by conversing with my Lord Powis and the Doctor, that now she will neither dance nor see a play upon the Sabbath. I assure you their Majesties are not less busy now than formerly you have seen them at the like exercise." t * CareVs Works, p. 269. t Collins's Memorials, vol. ii., p. 621. In a letter of the time it is said, " The Masking-house is nearly ready, and 1400Z. is appointed for the charge of a Masque at Twelfth Night." Collins 1 s Memorials, vol. ii., p. 531. Mr. D'Israeli says, " The fullest account I have found of one of these entertainments, which at once show the curiosity of the scenical machinery and the fancy of the poet, the richness of the crimson habits of the gentlemen and the white dresses, with white herons' plumes and jewelled head-dresses and ropes of pearls, of the ladies, was in a CHARLES I. 891 Charles was not only well-informed in all matters of Court etiquette, and in the particular duties belonging to each individual of his household, but enjoined their performance with remarkable strictness. Ferdinando Masham, one of the esquires of his body, has recorded a curious anecdote relative to the King's nice exaction of such observances: "I remember," he says, "that coming to the King's bed-chamber door, which was bolted on the ir.sidc, the late Earl of Bristol, then being in waiting and lying there, he unbolted the door upon rny knocking, and asked me ' What news ? ' I told him I had a letter for the King. The Earl then demanded the letter of me, which I told him I could deliver to none but the King himself: upon which the King said, ' The esquire is in the right ; for he ought not to deliver any letter or mes- sage to any but myself, he being at this time the chief officer of my house ; and if he had delivered the letter to any other, I should not have thought him fit for his place.' " It seems that, after a certain hour, when the guard was set, and the " All-night " served up, the Eoyal Household was considered under the sole command of the Esquire in waiting. " The King," says Lord Claren- don, " kept state to the full, which made his court very orderly, no man presuming to be seen in a place where he had no pretence to be." Although Charles formed many friendships among his own subjects, he never lost sight of the dignity of his own station, but was peculiarly tenacious of undue fami- liarity. When in the West of England, during the civil manuscript letter of the time, with which I supplied the editor of Jonson, who has preserved the narrative in his Memoirs of that poet" " Such were the magnificent entertainments," says Mr. Gifford, in his Intro- duction to Massinger, " which, though modern refinement may affect to despise them, modern splendour never reached, even in thought." Curiosities of Literature, vol. v., p. 223. 392 CHARLES I. troubles, Dr. Thomas AVykes, Dean of St. Buryan in Com- wall, an inveterate punster, happening to be riding near him, extremely well mounted, " Doctor," said the King, "you have a pretty nag under you; I pray, how old is he ? " Wykes, unable to repress, even in the presence of majesty, the indifferent conceit which presented itself; "If it please your Majesty," he said, "he is in the second year of his reign" (rein). Charles discovered some displeasure at this unlicensed ribaldry. " Go," he replied, "you are a fool." * Though kind and considerate to those about him, the manners of Charles were by nature far from being either graceful or conciliating. Considering the peculiar period in which he lived, and how fascinating is the well-timed civility of a King, the deficiency was a real misfortune. It was afterwards said of his son, Charles the Second, that he denied favours with more grace than his father bestowed them. The unfavourable impression conveyed by the manners of Charles was owing, in a great degree, to a natural impediment in his speech. At times he stammered so painfully that it was with difficulty he could articulate a word. This infirmity would seem to have been here- ditary, for his father's tongue is described as having been too large for his mouth, and Charles himself was unable to speak till he was four years old. It is remarkable that this imperfection left him at his trial, and that on that memorable occasion he addressed his judges with extra- ordinary fluency and ease. Lilly, who heard him, authenticates the fact. There was, however, in Charles, a want of tact in hia general address, as well as the misfortune of an impedi- ment in his speech. This defect of manner will, perhaps, * Pope's Life of Ward, Bishop of Salisbury, p. 59. CHARLES I. 393 be best exemplified by the following lively passage, which occurs in a letter from the Countess of Leicester to her husband, when the latter was ambassador at Paris : it is dated 14th March, 1636 ; " Since my coming to town, I have been twice at the Court, because I did not see the King the first time, but from the Queen I received then expectations of her favour to you : the Elector also made me some compliments concerning you, much handsomer than I expected from him. In his Majesty, I found an inclination to show me some kindness, but he could not find the way ; at last he told me, that he perceived I was too kind to my husband when he was with me, which kept me lean, for he thought me much fatter than I used to be. This short speech was worse to me than an absolute silence, for I blushed, and was so extremely out of coun- tenance, that all the company laughed at me." * The learning and accomplishments of Charles were of no ordinary kind. He was an excellent mathematician ; well read in the history and laws of his country, and had studied divinity as deeply as any of his contemporaries. He perfectly understood the French, Spanish, and Italian languages, and was conversant with, and appreciated, the classics. He had studied carefully the arts and manu- factures, and himself observed, that he believed he could earn his livelihood by any trade except "weaving in tapestry." He said at another time, that, were he com- pelled to make choice of a profession, he would not be a lawyer : " I could not," he added, " defend a bad cause, nor yield in a good one." His conference with Hender- son, and especially his negotiation with the parliamentary commissioners, on which latter occasion he combated, unaided, the arguments of some of the wisest men in England, afford sufficient proof of the vigour of his * Collins's Memorials, vol. ii., p. 472. 394 CHAKLES I. intellect and the deptli of his scholastic knowledge. The highest compliment ever paid to the mental powers of Charles, emanated from his adversary Henderson himself. This famous disputant and theologian, the gifted Pres- byterian, on whose controversial genius the hopes of thousands of enthusiasts were fixed, who was to have annihilated the arguments of his sovereign, and to have forced him to become a convert to presbyterianism, thus speaks of the illustrious antagonist, over whose arguments and principles he had anticipated an easy conquest : " I do declare before God and the world, whether in relation to Kirk or State, I found his Majesty the most intelligent man that ever I spoke with ; as far beyond my expression as expectation. I profess that I was oftentimes astonished with the solidity and quickness of his reasons and replies, wondered how he, spending his time in sports and recreations, could have attained to so great knowledge ; and must confess, that I was con- vinced in conscience, and knew not how to give him any reasonable satisfaction ; yet the sweetness of his disposi- tion is such, that whatsoever I said was well taken. I must say that I never met with any disputant of that mild and calm temper, which convinced me that such resolution and moderation could not be without an extraordinary measure of the Divine grace. I dare say, if his advice had been followed, all the blood that is shed, and all the rapine that is committed, should have been prevented." * Charles, like his father, held literature in great respect. On one occasion, when with the army at Oxford, he sent to the Bodleian Library to borrow a book. He was told that by the rules of the institution, no book was permitted to be lent out of the library. Instead of persisting in * Echard, vol. ii., p. 557. CHABLES I. 395 his request, he went instantly to the Bodleian, aad examined personally the volume he required. Charles, among his other accomplishments, is said to have been a painter ; and it has even been affirmed that Bubens corrected some of his drawings.* That great artist, in one of his letters, mentions as one of his chief inducements to visit England, that he has been credibly informed the Prince of that country is the best judge of art in Europe.f Few of our Kings have had the least perception of the beautiful. Charles the First is unfortunately the only monarch of this country to whom the arts may be con- sidered as under an obligation. His collection of statues, paintings, models, and antiquities, must have been superb in the extreme ; and but for the interruption of the civil troubles, and the tasteless devastation which followed, the cabinet of the Court of England would still have been the envy of the polite world. Besides objects of taste, such as had descended to him from former monarchs, he had himself collected for many years with vast labour and expense. He had added to his gallery of pictures the entire cabinet of the Duke of Mantua, considered the most splendid in Europe. J The price of paintings on the Continent rose, it is affirmed, to double their value, in consequence of a competition between Charles and Philip the Fourth of Spain, another royal collector. It has even been asserted, that Charles was once on the point of an agreement with Vandyke, that, for the immense sum of eighty thousand pounds, he should adorn the walls of the Banqueting House at "Whitehall with the ceremonies of * Anecdotes of Painting; Walpole's Works, vol. iii., p. 182. f- Seaward' s Anecdotes, vol. L, p. 163. t Some of these pictures were unfortunately spoiled by the quicksilver on their frames. Anecdotes of Painting ; Walpole's Works, vol. iiL, p. 183. 390 CHARLES I. the Order of the Garter. Such a building, embellished by such an artist, would have been the glory of Europe.* The Banqueting House, however, in the reign of Charles, was decorated with some of his choicest pictures ; and we find him refusing to permit one of the Queen's favourite Masques to be performed in it, lest the lights should damage the collection : the incident, however trifling, is a proof of his care for the arts.f We have several other evidences of the taste and refinement of Charles. At Mortlake he patronised a manufacture of tapestry, which, but for the age of bar- barism which followed, might have rivalled the boasted Gobelins of Paris. He delighted in the company of learned men, and in their society is said to have been more social and more at his ease than on any other occasion. He loved and understood music, and was him- self a pupil of Cooper's, and performed on the viol di Gamba. He was a friend of the poets, especially of Ben Jonson, and of May, the translator of Lucan. Milton speaks of Shakspeare as the " closet companion of Charles's solitudes." To the republican party we are indebted for the loss of the magnificent collections made by Charles. It is to be regretted that the conductors of popular con- vulsions have been rarely men of refinement. The year before the death of Charles, his splendid effects, and his unique cabinet, which formed the delight of his leisure hours, were directed by the Parliament to be sold. Some ignorant individuals, who styled themselves commis- sioners, were appointed the appraisers. The inventory took a year in drawing up, and the collection three years in selling. The catalogue is preserved among the Harleian * Teuton's Waller, Notes, p. 37 ; Walpole's Works, vol. i., p. 205. t Strafford Letters, vol. ii., p. 140. CHAELES I. 397 MSS., and is entitled, " An Inventory of the Goods, Jewels, Plate, &c., belonging to King Charles I., sold by order of the Council of State, from the year 1649 to 1652." Each article or lot had its price previously fixed, and nothing could exceed the gross barbarity and want of taste displayed in the valuation. This Gothic insensi- bility and ignorance, however, mattered little ; for, except a slight occasional competition, the price given seldom exceeded the appraisement. It is curious to discover what in those days was considered the value of pictures which are now deservedly regarded as beyond price. The celebrated cartoons of Raphael were vaiucu at only 3001., and, what is more remarkable, weiv "knocked down" without a purchaser. The six following pictures alone brought a price which may be considered as equivalent to their worth. A Sleeping Venus, by Corregio, sold for 1000k A Madonna, by Raphael, 20001. A Picture, by Julio Romano, 5001. A Madonna and Christ, by Raphael, 8001. A Venus and Pard, by Titian, 6001. The following have been mentioned as remarkable for the insignificant sums at which they were purchased The Woman taken in Adultery, by Rubens, 201. Peace and Plenty, by Rubens, 1001. Venus attired by the Graces, by Guido, 2001.* * The following account of various sums, paid by Charles L to Vandyke and Rubens, will, doubtless be considered as curious : " To Sir Anthony Vandyck, for divers pictures, viz., our own roynl portraiture ; another of Monsieur, the French King's brother ; ami particular of the Archdashess, at length, at 251. a-piece. One of our r.-.yal consort ; another of the Prince of Orange ; ccd another of their 398 CHARLES I. The Duke of Buckingham and his brother, one of the finest efforts of Vandyke, was valued at 30Z., and sold for 507. Christ, the Virgin, and "many Angels dancing," by Vandyke, was also valued only at 401. Walpole informs us, that his father afterwards gave 7001. for this picture, and that it had been previously twice sold for upwards of 1000Z. Titian's pictures were generally nppraised at 1007. But the valuation of the following list is really ludicrous. King Edward III. with a great curtain before it, il. A Portrait of Buchanan, SI. 10s. Queen Elizabeth, in her robes, 17. The Queen Mother, in mourning, 3Z. The King, when a Boy, 21. Picture of the Queen, when with child, 5s. The valuable collection of coins sold, on the average, at about a shilling a-piece. The pictures, together with the furniture of nineteen * palaces which had belonged to Charles, and the remains of the jewels and plate which had not been already sold for the maintenance of the royal cause, fetched the comparatively trifling sum con, at half-length, at 201. a-piece. One great piece of our royal self, consort, and children, 100?. One of the Emperor Vetellius, 201. ; and for mending the picture of the Emperor Gal bus, 51. " To Sir Anthony Vandyck, 444?. for nine pictures of our royal self, and most dearest consort the Queen ; 401. for the picture of our dearest consort, the Queen, by him made, and by our command delivered unto our right trusty and well-beloved cousin and counsellor, the Lord Viscount Wentworth, our deputy of Ireland. "To Sir Peter Rubens, Knight, 3000?., for certain pictures from him sold unto us." Issue Roll of Thomas de BrantinyJiam. Introduction. London, 1835. * Granger incidentally mentions the number of the King's palaces as twenty- four. Including the old Scotch palaces they probably amounted to even more than this number. CHARLES I. 399 of one hundred and eighteen thousand and eighty pounds, ten shillings, and sixpence.* It has been remarked as a singular circumstance, that a sale so magnificent, and so extensive as to occupy three years in its accomplishment, should have failed in exciting a greater degree of attention in foreign princes. This apathy, however, may in some degree have origi- nated in feelings of delicacy. Lord Clarendon mentions incidentally, that some of the King's pictures, as well as the rich furniture of his palaces, were privately purchased by the Spanish Envoys for their master. The unsettled state of the public mind in England may account for the want of taste displayed in our own country upon this melancholy occasion. Those who had the mind to appreciate, and the power to purchase, had been displaced by those who had neither. It may here be remarked, that some idle toys, obtained probably for the amuse- ment of Henrietta, or the decoration of her apartments, were purchased at large prices, while, as we have already seen, the works of the first artists were valued at sums which, in these days, would scarcely exceed the annual interest of their purchase-money. * Sec Walpole's Works, vol. iii., p. 201 ; and Curiosities of Litera- \ol. v., p. 22, for further particulars respecting the Cabinet of Charles and its disposal. One remarkable relic escaped the cupidity of the Parliament. This was a splendid collar of the Order of the Garter set alternately with ballast rubies and pearls. It had long been an heirloom of the Crown of England, but had recently been sold by the Duke of Buckingham and Lord Holland " beyond the seas," bj order of Charles I. See Rymers Fcedera, vol. xviii., p. 236, 400 CHAPTER XIV. Charles at the Battle of Naseby His Flight from Oxford His arrival at Newark, and ungracious Reception by the Scottish Array Treachery of the Scots Imprisonment of Charles at Holmby His Amusements there Charles and Major Bosville The King is denied all Intercourse with the Ministers of his own Church, and deprived of his Attendants His Health and Diet Insolence of Cornet Joyce Removal of the King from Holmby His Reception at Childerley Professions of Fidelity by Cromwell and Fairfax Charles's Arrival at his Palace at Newmarket Freed from the annoying Attentions of Joyce The King's Interview with his Children The Bowling-green at "Whitchurch Arrival of Charles at Hampton Court His Court there Secret Compact between him and Cromwell Morrice's Story of the Letter in the Saddle Interview at Sion House between Charles and his Children His Advice to them. FOETTJNATELY for ourselves, as well as for the reputa- tion of Charles, it is on the story of his private, and not of his public life on the details of his social virtues, and not on his political delinquencies which it is our province to dwell. Charles the First as King, and Charles the First as a private individual, rise before us as two distinct beings : we despise the one, while we almost reverence the other. Let us then hurry over the political history, and the more stirring events, of the reign of Charles. His contests with the House of Commons ; his vexatious and illegal levies on the purses of his subjects ; his tyrannical interference with their religious scruples ; his insolent seizure of the "five Members;" the terrible retribution which followed his blunders and his misconduct ; his final CHARLES I. 401 rupture with his subjects ; the raising of the Standard at Nottingham ; the changes and chances of the great Civil War ; the King's successes at Worcester and Edgehill, and his disasters at Marston Moor and Naseby ; these events, and the moral to be deduced from them, \ve leave to the graver pens of the historian and the philosopher. Let us return to the personal history of Charles. The battle of Naseby was decisive to the fortunes of the misguided monarch, and from henceforward he virtually ceased to be a King. It was at the close of this action that he is said to have ridden along the ranks, animating his men with his voice and hand, and imploring them not to desert him in his need : " One charge more," he exclaimed, " and we recover the day." His courage, in fact, has never been called in question even by his most furious maligners, and on more than one occasion elicited the admiration of his enemies. During the course of the civil struggles, it ever appeared as eminent on the field of battle, as it afterwards shone illustrious on the scaffold. But after the battle of Naseby, misfortune followed misfortune; the West of England was overrun by the Parliamentary forces ; Bristol surrendered to Fairfax, and Devizes to Cromwell. At length, surrounded by enemies on all sides, the unhappy King had no choice but to throw himself into Oxford, which had been faithful to him in every change, and where, for the last time, he was destined to be regarded and respected as a free monarch. But Fairfax was rapidly approaching with a victorious army. The prospect of being led away captive by his own subjects ; the thought of their triumphant shouts; of falling into the power of men whom he regarded as insolent rebels and absurd enthusiasts ; was 402 CHARLES I. too humiliating to be endured. Accordingly, though not till Fairfax was within three days' march of Oxford, the King decided on flight. But even at the very moment of departure, such was his constitutional irresolution, that he had scarcely made up his mind which way to turn, or in what friend to trust ; whether to throw him- self on the mercy of the citizens of London, or to trust himself to the generosity of the Scottish army, which was then encamped at Newark. It was only when danger or death opposed him face to face, that the real heroism of Charles's character was manifested. To Lord Digby, we find him writing at this period : " I desire you to assure all my friends, that if I cannot live as a King, I shall die like a gentleman, without doing that which may make honest men blush for me." * Charles selected but two individuals as the companions of his flight. These were his faithful groom of the bed- chamber, John Ashburnham, and Dr. Hudson, a clergy- man, who was intimately acquainted with the features and by-parts of the country through which the fugitives must necessarily pass. The King himself was disguised as the servant of Ashburnham. On the night of the 27th of April, 1646, orders having been given at the different gates of the town to allow to three persons a free pass, Charles proceeded over Magdalen Bridge, and commenced his sorrowful and hazardous journey. The principal reliance of the fugitives was in an old pass which they had procured from an officer of the royal army, and which, indeed, afterwards proved of the greatest assist- ance. Even at their first stage, Dorchester in Oxford- shire, where a troop of dragoons were quartered, they escaped examination by its means.f * Carte ; Life of the Duke of Ormond, vol. iii., Appendix, No. 433. t Desid. Cur. lib. ix., p. 9 ; Clarendon, vol. v., p. 393. CHARLES I. 403 From Dorchester they proceeded, by way of Henley and Maidenhead, as near to London as Brentford. In passing through Benson, they had been closely questioned by a party of horse, but Ashburnham asserting they be- longed to the Commons, they were again allowed to proceed. One circumstance caused them great annoy- ance : a soldier in Ireton's regiment actually joined company, and proceeded with them from Nettlebed as far as Slough. This man, perceiving the liberal manner in which Hudson distributed money to the guards, turned to the King, whom (being dressed as a servant, and having a saddlebag before him) he naturally regarded as his equal, and inquired if his master was of the House of Lords? Charles answered calmly, that his master was merely of the Lower House. At Brentford, Charles again deliberated on the policy of trusting himself to the honour of the Parliament and the loyalty of the citizens. The result was that the travellers turned their faces towards the north, and, after some stay at Harrow on the Hill, came to Uxbridge, where they deceived another guard with their pass. At Hillingdon, a village near that town, they remained about three hours ; and here the King endured another painful conflict, as to the expediency of proceeding further northward, or returning to London and throwing himself on the generosity of his subjects. After a severe struggle, it was decided that they should prosecute their original intention, and they therefore proceeded cautiously towards St. Albans. In passing through that town they were encountered by an " old man with a halbert," who inquired to what party they belonged ? Hudson told him to the Parliament, and throwing him a sixpence, they again proceeded on their way. They had scarcely, however, left St. Albans above a mile behind B D 2 404 CHARLES I. them, when, to their consternation, they perceived a horseman galloping after them at hia utmost speed. Charles and Ashburnham instantly turned out of the direct road, leaving Hudson to face about and encounter the suspicious person. It proved, to their great satis- faction, to be merely a drunken cavalier, who passed on his way without taking any notice of the party, or even of the salutation of Hudson, who civilly greeted him. From hence the King and his companions pro- ceeded, by a circuitous route, through Leicestershire and Norfolk, and at length arrived at the camp at Newark, where he formally delivered himself to Lord Leven, the general of the Scottish army. It may be remarked, that it was nine days after his quitting Oxford, before the Parliament received the least intimation of his proceedings. Irritated beyond measure, they issued a proclamation, threatening instant death to whoever should harbour the royal fugitive.* Charles had soon sufficient reason to repent the step which he had taken. He neither experienced that attachment from the Scots which he had anticipated, nor the ordinary respect which misfortune had a right to claim. His person was closely guarded ; he was reiused all communication and correspondence with those who were dear to him ; and, moreover, he was daily insulted by pulpit insolence, or wearied by pulpit admonitions. One would have thought that afflicted majesty, that the extreme of human misfortune, a monarch deprived of his throne, his freedom, and his children, might have been compassionated under any circumstances, and might even have claimed respect from the wildest political zealot or religious fanatic. Among other instances of his having been personally affronted from the pulpit, the * Desid. Cur. lib. ix., pp. 9, 21. CHARLES I. 405 following is well known. In the presence of the perse- cuted Monarch, one of their preachers had appointed, as part of the service of the day, the psalin which commences, " Why dost thou, tyrant, boast thyself, Thy wicked deeds to praise ? " As soon as the words were given out, the King rose from his seat, and calmly proposed to substitute the psalm, which begins ; "Have mercy, Lord, on me I pray, For men would me devour." The congregation, to their credit, sided with Charles, and sang the more appropriate version. From the time of that great national stain, the sale of his person by the Scottish army, till we find him a prisoner of the Parliament in his own house at Holdenby, there is little remarkable in the King's personal history. The fact of that atrocious transfer, and the proposed change of keepers, were first com- municated to him by a letter, which he received while engaged at a game of chess. Painful as the tidings must have been to him, his countenance betrayed no change, and he continued the game with the same placidity of manner, and apparent interest, as if the letter had remained unopened. Holdenby, or Holmby House, in Northamptonshire, was one of his own nineteen palaces, in which Charles had passed some of the happiest moments of his youth. When Duke of York, it had been purchased for him by his mother, Anne of Denmark, who little anticipated that it would hereafter become the prison of her favourite child.* During his journey to this place, Charles was * It had originally been built by Lord Chancellor Hatton, and, shortly 406 CHARLES I. received with every show of affection, and sometimes even with enthusiasm, by his subjects. On his arrival, we are told, " very many country gentlemen, gentle- women, and others of ordinary rank, stood ready there, to welcome the King, with joyful countenances and prayers." * At Holmby his situation was somewhat improved. There was at least the appearance of a court ; he was allowed the services of persons whom he could trust, and the society of many of those whom he loved. It is remarkable that the Parliamentary Commissioners waited on him with all due observance at his meals.f In order to defray in part the King's household expenses at this period, the communion plate at White- hall, in accordance with a proposition of the Committee of Revenue, dated 5th February, 1647, was sacrilegiously melted down. The Committee report of the House of Commons, that the " vestry plate, hitherto set upon the altar of his Majesty's chapel at "Whitehall," consists as follows : A paire of great candlesticks, Two gilt layres, One gilt shipp, A square basonn and fountaine, Two gilt vases, A silver rodd. after receiving the last visit of Charles, was pulled down by a decree of the Parliament. * Herbert, p. 15. "It is note-worthy," says Herbert, "that through most parts where his Majesty passed, some out of curiosity, but most (it may be presumed) for love, nocked to behold him, and accompanied him with acclamations of joy, and with their prayers fur his preservation : and, that not any of the troopers, who guarded the King, gave those country-people any check or disturbance, as the King passed, that could be observed, a civility his Majesty was well pleased with." Herbert, vol. T., p. 14. Heath says, thathe was "gratulated all the way to Holmby by the people, as in a progress." Chron. of the Civil Wars, p. 128. t Clarendon, vol. v., p. 422 ; Herbert, p. 16. CHARLES I. 407 Charles, though restricted in liberty, was not altogether deprived of amusement ; and no man could have more valuable resources in himself. In the mornings he either rode out on horseback, or paced up and down the gravel walks at Holmby. He was a fast walker, and the Earl of Pembroke, the "memorable simpleton," who was generally forced upon him as his companion, had some difficulty in keeping pace with him. Bowls was a game in which Charles had ever taken great pleasure ; and as there was no bowling-green at Holmby, he constantly rode over, either to Althorp or Harrowden, (the latter a house of Lord Vaux,) where he diverted himself with his favourite amusement. The Commissioners were com- monly his companions in the sport. It would be difficult to imagine a more remarkable scene than that of the recent competitors for sovereignty becoming peaceful rivals in such a homely diversion. It was on the occasion of one of his excursions to Harrowden, that he encountered, under peculiar circum- stances, the face of an old friend. During the period that Charles had been a prisoner of the Scots at New- castle, he had despatched a faithful adherent, Major Bosville, to Paris, with an important letter to the Queen. Bosville, having obtained her reply, had continued several days lurking in the neighbourhood of Holmby, before he could find an opportunity of delivering his despatch. Three nights he spent at the meanest cottages, and twice slept under furze bushes in the open air. At last, dis- guised as a countryman, and with a fishing-rod in his hand, he seized an opportunity of the King riding over a narrow bridge, to place the important document in his Majesty's hands. Unfortunately the Commissioners witnessed the movement. Charles, however, told them that it was merely a letter from the Queen, containing a 408 CHAELES I. recommendation that the Prince should serve in the French army during the next campaign. Bosville was afterwards examined by the wary Commissioners, but whether he suffered for his loyalty does not appear. The gallant soldier, it seems, had made up his mind to force the letter into the hands of Charles, even though he should be surrounded by the parliamentary guards, with their pistols pointed at his head. Many similar attempts were made to communicate with the captive monarch, but were almost invariably prevented by the watchfulness of the Parliament. Among others, one Mary Cave, of a respectable family at Stanford, .had been enlisted in the royal cause, and had engaged to deliver a letter to the King. She happened to be acquainted with the landlady of one of the Parlia- mentary captains, who was employed as a guard over his sovereign. At the request of the landlady, the officer good-naturedly consented to obtain, for her young friend, the honour of kissing the King's hand. In the mean time, however, the landlady had imprudently communicated to her husband the real object which her friend had in view, on which, the husband, alarmed at the risk which they both ran, lost no time in imparting the secret to the captain. Accordingly, on the day appointed for her interview with the King, the young lady no sooner made her appearance at Holmby, than she was arrested by order of the Commissioners, and sub- jected to a strict search. Fortunately no papers were discovered on her person : some days afterwards, how- ever, an important letter was found behind the hangings of the room, which it was supposed that, during the investigation, she had ingeniously contrived to conceal. That which greatly distressed the King, was his being denied not only the attendance of his domestic chaplains, CHARLES I. 409 but even all intercourse with the ministers of his own church. Twice he addressed a solemn appeal to the Parliament on this subject; but though the House of Lords showed every inclination to gratify him, the Com- mons sternly withheld their consent. Offers of ghostly assistance, indeed, were constantly made him by the Puritan preachers, who were in attendance on the Com- missioners. These people, among other intrusions, were ever hovering about the royal table, with the object of pronouncing the benediction : Charles, however, always said the grace himself, and sometimes in an audible voice. " The Parliament," says Neal, " appointed two of their clergy, Mr. Caryl and Mr. Marshall, to preach in the chapel, morning and afternoon, on the Lord's Day, and to perform the devotions of the chapel on week days ; but his Majesty never gave his attendance. He spent his Sundays in private, and though they waited at table, he would not so much as admit them to ask a blessing." * He was, however, invariably civil to his persecutors, and though himself refraining from being present at their hours of worship, he laid no similar restraint on his attendants. But an act of oppression, which shortly followed, sank far more deeply into the heart of Charles. One day the Commissioners waited on him in a body, and after having acquainted him with the spirit of some new instructions which they had received, requested him, with great apparent humility, to dismiss, with only two exceptions, the loyal and affectionate servants who had been long attached to his person. Two of the grooms of the bed-chamber, Maxwell and Mawle, to whom were afterwards added Harrington and Sir Thomas Herbert, were alone permitted to attend him in future. At dinner, * Hist of the Puritans, vol. ii., p. 246. 410 CHARLES I. the same day, when the faithful train came as usual to wait on their afflicted sovereign, he informed them of what had passed, adding that they must hereafter cease to regard him as their master. The scene which ensued was affecting in the extreme. They offered up the most fervent prayers for the King's safety and happiness, and after respectively kissing his hand, retreated with all the expressions of the most poignant distress. Charles himself was so much moved that he retired to his bed- chamber, and, giving orders that no one should intrude on his privacy, spent the remainder of the day in solitude and grief. It is remarkable that neither misery nor confinement had the least effect on the health of Charles, and that, during the whole period of his sufferings, he never once had need of a physician. This circumstance was, no doubt, owing in a great measure to his abstemiousness in his diet. It was his custom to eat but sparingly, and seldom of various dishes. His attendant, Herbert, says, that " he drank but twice every dinner and supper, once of beer, and once of wine and water mixed, only after fish a glass of French wine ; the beverage he himself mixed at the cupboard, as he would have it; he very seldom ate and drank before dinner, nor between meals." It was on the afternoon of the 4th of June, 1647, that an incident occurred, which spread consternation throughout the usually tranquil establishment of Holmby, and which, moreover, was the prelude to still darker passages in the life of Charles. He was at Althorp, amusing himself at bowls with the Commissioners, when information was brought that a large and suspicious- looking body of horse was on its way to Holmby. Doubtful whether they were to encounter friend or foe, the Commissioners instantly hurried back the King to CHAELES I. 411 Holmby, and, after some consultation, determined, if necessary, to stand on their defence. It was not till midnight that the troopers arrived, when, having been, drawn up in regular order before the house, and guards having been placed at all the avenues, their leader boldly demanded admittance. This person was no other than Cornet Joyce, the son of a tailor, and perhaps the most impudent ruffian on record. On his knocking at the palace-gate for admission, the commandant of the garrison inquired his name and business. He replied that his name was Joyce ; that he was a cornet in Colonel Whaley's regiment, and that his object was to speak with the King. The commandant inquired from whom ? Joyce told him from himself, at which the other very naturally gave a contemptuous laugh. Joyce, however, insolently told him it was no laughing matter. In the mean time the soldiers within the garrison and those without had been sociably conversing together; and having discovered that both parties belonged to the same army, and were attached to the same cause, the former immediately opened the gates, and Joyce quietly took command of the house. Having posted sentinels over the Commissioners' apartments, Joyce hastened to the part of the house in which the King slept. With a pistol in his hand, he knocked loudly at the door of the grooms of the bed- chamber, through whose apartment he must necessarily pass before he could gain admission to that of the King. These gentlemen, having ascertained from him his name and object, came to the gallant determination of sacri- ficing their lives sooner than admit the intruder. In the mean time, having been awakened by the disturbance, the King rang the silver bell he was in the habit of keeping by his bedside, on which Maxwell hastened to 412 CHARLES I. his chamber, while the others defended the outer door. Charles, having been made acquainted with the cause of the turn alt, positively refused to rise, on which Joyce, though exceedingly exasperated, was persuaded to retire. The next morning the King rose somewhat earlier than usual, when Joyce, having been admitted to his presence, informed his Majesty, with the utmost confi- dence, and almost in as few words, that he came to remove him from Holmby. The King asked him whither he was to go ? Joyce told him, to the army. Charles naturally requested to see his instructions^ " Tour Majesty shall be soon satisfied," said the other; and drawing up his men, a fine troop and well clad, in the inner court, pointed them out from the window to Charles. " Your warrant," said the King, smiling, " is written in fair characters, and is legible without spelling." * On the following day, after a residence there of four months, the King departed from Holmby. He was attended in his coach by three of the Commissioners, the Earls of Pembroke and Denbigh, and Lord Mon- tague; his other persecutors, as well as his suite, fol- lowing on horseback. According to Herbert, who was present, the King was the merriest person of the party. The fact seems to have been, that Charles was ex- tremely well pleased with his removal to the army. He had long entertained a notion that the most influential officers were secretly his friends, and that by their means he should eventually regain possession of his rights. " Sir," he once said to Fairfax, " I have as good interest in the army as yourself." Cromwell and Fairfax both denied that Joyce had received his authority from them. * Herbert, p. 26 ; Warwick, p. 299. CHARLES I. 413 Cromwell, however, could not conceal the elation which he felt at the success of the enterprise. " Now," he said, " that I have the King in my hands, I have the Parlia- ment in my pocket." * It is impossible, indeed, to doubt that Cromwell was at the bottom of this daring outrage. Hobbes of Malmes- bury observes justly in his Behemoth, " I cannot believe that Cornet Joyce could go out of the army with a thou- sand soldiers to fetch the King, and neither the General nor the Lieutenant-general, nor the body of the army, take notice of it." With regard to the force with which Joyce was supported, the accounts are extremely con- flicting. Heath, as well as Hobbes, mentions them as a thousand strong ; Dr. Barwick as fifteen hundred ; San- derson, on the King's authority, as five hundred ; and Clarendon as fifty. Herbert, who was on the spot, merely speaks of them as a " body of horse," and in another place as a " troop." Major Huntingdon, in his " Reasons for laying down his commission," says ex- pressly, in speaking of Joyce's exploit, that " Lieutenant General Cromwell had given him orders at London to do what he had done, both there and at Oxford." f From Hinchinbrook, where the King passed the first night, he came to Childerley, a house of Sir John Cutts, about four miles from Cambridge. Hither the fellows and scholars of the University flocked to him in great numbers, and with every demonstration of loyalty and respect. He was also respectfully attended at this place by many of the principal officers of the army. Among the number were Cromwell, Ireton, Lambert, and Whaley. Several of them knelt to him and kissed his hand. J "With Cromwell and Fairfax he had frequently long interviews, * Echard, vol. ii., p. 575. t Maseres's Tracts, vol. i., p. 399. J Herbert, p. 35. 414 CHARLES I. and received from them the most unbounded professions of fidelity. From Childerley, Charles was removed to his own palace at Newmarket. Here, to his great satisfaction, he was at last freed from the presence of Cornet Joyce, whose sanctified manners and vulgar familiarity had con- tinued to annoy him since their departure from Holmby. Charles, when at Childerley, had endeavoured to bring this ofiensive person to trial, and had summoned a council of war for the purpose. Cromwell's influence, however, was too powerful, and Joyce escaped un- punished.* At Newmarket the King experienced a greater degree of freedom and kindness than had hitherto been his lot. He was allowed to take exercise on the heath, either in his coach or on horseback ; his chaplains were permitted to attend him, and he was treated generally by the officers of the army not only with civility, but with respect.f He dined in public as in former days ; hia presence-chamber was thronged with the neighbouring gentry ; and when he went abroad, he was received with * In 1670, we find Joyce a resident at Rotterdam, when Sir William Temple, then Ambassador to Holland, received particular orders to secure his person : the Ambassador, we are told, went himself to Rot- terdam, and sat up two nights without sleep, without being able to effect his purpose. The magistrates, it seems, counteracted his designs, alleging that it was absolutely against the privileges of their town, and, moreover, that Joyce was apparently "a kind of mad extravagant fellow, and that having long resided in their town, he could be guilty of nothing against his Majesty, unless it were of words, which people were very free of in their country." A yacht had been purposely sent from England to Rotterdam to convey Joyce to condign punishment, but owing to the obstinacy or good-nature of the Dutch authorities, it was compelled to return without its expected cargo. Life of Sir William Temple, p. 171. Ed. 1714. t Clarendon, vol. v., p. 443. CHARLES I. 415 loud acclamations by the people.* Sir Philip Meadows, \vho was at Newmarket during the King's visit, assured Lord Dartmouth that Charles's was the only cheerful countenance to be seen in the place, f On the 24th of June, 1647, the King left Newmarket for Boyston, another royal mansion. Here he stayed two days, and from thence removed to Hatfield, where he remained till the end of the month. At Windsor he passed another two days, and from thence was conducted to Caversham, a seat of Lord Craven, not far from Bead- ing. While at this place, he was allowed the exquisite pleasure of again embracing his children. He met them at Maidenhead, in which town they passed the evening together. Cromwell, who himself knew the feelings of a father, was present at their first interview. He after- wards described the scene to Sir John Berkley as one of the most affecting he had ever witnessed. " I met with him" [Cromwell], says Berkley in his Memoirs, "about three days after I came to Beading, as he was coming from the King, then at Caversham. He told me that he had lately seen the tenderest eight that ever his eyes beheld, which was the interview between the King and his children, and wept plentifully at the remembrance of it." Ludlow corroborates the fact, and informs us that while Cromwell was telling the story, the tears rolled down his cheeks. Charles had the satisfaction of passing two whole days with his children, while a prisoner at Caversham. During his residence at this place, the unfortunate King used to pay frequent visits to a bowl- ing-green in the retired parish of Whitchurch, then belonging to the ancient family of Lybbe, and at present to their descendant Lybbe Powys, Esq. When the author visited the spot a few years since, the bowling- * Herbert, p. 38. t Burnet, vol. i., p. 86, note. 416 CHAELES I. green still remained, and also, near it, a small building, which, as far back as the days ot Charles the First, used to afford shelter and refreshment to those who indulged in the game. In Hardwick House the neighbouring resi- dence of the Powys family may still be seen the picture of the old lady who lived in this building, and who used to wait on the King during his occasional visits. At Woburn, whither the King was next removed, he met with an affectionate and even splendid reception. From thence he was conducted to Latimers, a seat of the Devonshire family; and after remaining brief periods at Moor Park near Kickmansworth, Stoke near Windsor, then the seat of the Huntingdons, Oatlands, and other places, he at length arrived at Hampton Court in the middle of August, about ten weeks after his departure from Holmby. Charles was extremely gratified with the last change. "He dines abroad," says Sanderson, "in the Presence Chamber, with the same duties and ceremonies as here- tofore, where many of the gentry are admitted to kiss his hand. After dinner he retires to his chamber ; then he walks into the park or plays at tennis : yesterday he killed a stag and a buck." The court again presented something of its former magnificence ; the nobility flocked round his person ; his servants returned to their respective duties; and the chaplains performed their offices in the royal chapel. The King was allowed to hunt with the Duke of Richmond ; the officers of the army continued to treat him with respect, and Cromwell came often to see him, and was admitted to long con- ferences.* We cannot but think that this extraordinary man was, at this period at least, well inclined towards his * Heath's Chronicle of the Civil Wars, p. 147 ; Clarendon, vol. v., p. 471. CHARLES I. 417 sovereign. There is a well-known tradition that a secret compact existed, by which, in the event of the restora- tion of the King to his rights, Cromwell was to receive ten thousand a year, the earldom of Esses, and the Garter. The treaty, it has been affirmed, was broken off in con- sequence of the discovery of an autograph letter from Charles to his Queen, in which the former stated, that the promise having been altogether compulsory on his part, he should feel himself justified, when restored to liberty and power, in declining to fulfil the conditions.* This story becomes somewhat remarkable, when compared with the following anecdote, related by Morrice, the chaplain of Lord Orrery, in his memoirs of that nobleman. The reader, however, is warned that it must be received with caution. " One day," says Morrice, "Lord Broghill was riding, with Cromwell on one side of him and Ireton on the other, at the head of their army, when they fell into discourse about the late King's death. Cromwell declared, that if the King had followed his own mind, and had had trusty servants about him, he had fooled them all. And further said, that once they had a mind to have closed with him; but upon something that happened, they fell off from that design again. My lord, finding Cromwell and Ireton in a good humour, and no other person being within hearing, asked them if he might be so bold as to desire an account, first, why they once would have closed with the King ? and, secondly, why they did not ? Cromwell very freely told him, he would satisfy him in both his queries. ' The reason,' says he, ' why we would once have closed with the King was this : we found that the Scots and the Presbyterians began to be more powerful than we ; and if they made up matters * Kennett, TO!, iiu, p. 170. VOIfc T. E B 418 CHARLES I. with the King, we should have been left in the lurch : therefore, we thought it hest to prevent them, by offering first to come in upon any reasonable conditions. But while we were busied in these thoughts, there came a letter from one of our spies, who was of the King's bed- chamber, which acquainted us, that on that day our final doom was decreed ; that he could not possibly tell what it was, but we might find it out if we could intercept a letter sent from the King to the Queen, wherein he declared what he would do. The letter, he said, was sewn up in the skirt of a saddle, and the bearer of it would come with the saddle upon his head, about ten of the clock that night, to the Blue Boar Inn in Holborn ; for there he was to take horse, and go to Dover with it. This messenger knew nothing of the letter in the saddle, but some persons in Dover did. We were at Windsor when we received this letter ; x and immediately upon the receipt of it Ireton and I resolved to take one trusty fellow with us, and with trooper's habits to go to the Inn in Holborn ; which accordingly we did, and set our man at the gate of the Inn where the wicket only was open, to let people in and out. Our man was to give us notice when any person came there with a saddle, whilst we, in the disguise of common troopers, called for cans of beer, and continued drinking till about ten o'clock : the sentinel at the gate then gave notice, that the man with the saddle was come in. Upon this we immediately arose, and as the man was leading out his horse saddled, came up to him with drawn swords, and told him that we were to search all that went in and out there ; but as he looked like an honest man, we would only search his saddle and so dismiss him. Upon that, we ungirt the saddle, and carried it into the stall, where we had been drinking, and left the horseman with our sentinel : then CHARLES I. 419 ripping up one of the skirts of the saddle, we there found the letter of which we had been informed ; and having got it into our own hands, we delivered the saddle again to the man, telling him he was an honest man, and bidding him go about his business. The man, not know- ing what had been done, went away to Dover. As soon as we had the letter, we opened it ; in which we found the King had acquainted the Queen that he was now courted by both the factions, the Scotch Presbyterians and the army ; and which bid fairest for him should have him ; but he thought he should close with the Scots sooner than the other. Upon this,' added Cromwell, ' we took horse, and went to "Windsor ; and finding we were not likely to have any tolerable terms from the King, we immediately, from that time forward, resolved his ruin."* The army had somewhat more humanity than the Parliament, and continued to permit frequent interviews between the King and his children. The first time that he met them, after his arrival at Hampton Court, was at Sion House, the residence of the Earl of Northumber- land, under whose charge they had for some time been placed. When they beheld their persecuted father, " they fell down on their knees," says a bystander, "and begged his blessing." Charles embraced them most affectionately, and appeared overjoyed to find them in such perfect health, and so kindly treated. From this period they were constantly permitted to pass the day at Hampton Court, or else Charles would ride over to visit them at Sion.f At these affecting interviews, Charles omitted no opportunity of instilling virtuous principles into the * Orrery's State Letters, vol. i., p. 26. t Herbert, p. 49 ; Clar., yol. v., p. 471. B E 2 420 CHARLES I. minds of his children. He conjured the Duke of York, then about fourteen years old, in the event of any accident befalling his unfortunate father, to transport himself into Holland, where he was certain of being affectionately received by his sister, the Princess of Orange. He desired the Princess Elizabeth never to marry, unless with the consent of her mother and her brother Charles ; always to be obedient to them both, and to the Queen especially, except in matters of religion; conjuring her, whatever misfortunes might befall the Church of England, that she should always be constant in that faith.* The necessity of faithfully adhering to the truths enjoined by that church, Charles had ever solemnly impressed on his family. On the 22nd of March, 1645, he addresses to Prince Charles the follow- ing solemn appeal : " Once again, I command you, upon my blessing, to be constant to your religion, neither hearkening to Romish superstitions, nor the seditions and schismatical doctrines of the Presbyterians and Inde- pendents ; for know, that a persecuted church is not thereby less pure though less fortunate." t * Echard, vol. iL, p. 581. f Kennett, vol. iii., p. 161. 421 CHAPTER XY. The King's Flight from Hampton Court Ashburnham's "Fatal M!>- take" Charles proceeds in custody to the Isle of Wight Colonel Whaley's Account of the Discovery of the King's Escape from Hampton Court The King's Arrival at Cowes Singular Omen Arrival at Carisbrook Dismissal of the King's Chaplains and Servants Captain Burley's rash Attempt his barbarous Execu- tion The King's Removal to Newport Anecdotes Melancholy Change in the Appearance of Charles Projects for his Escape from Carisbrook Fruitless Attempts. THE circumstances which induced Charles to fly from Hampton Court, and the details of that ill-advised measure, have been variously related by historians. It is, however, agreed on all hands, that his dread of assas- sination was the principal motive. Anonymous letters, advertising him of his danger, had for some time been daily conveyed to him ; indeed, the King himself, in a letter to the Parliament which was afterwards found in his bed-chamber, gave it as the special reason of his flight : " I cannot deny," he says, " that my personal security is the urgent cause of this my retirement." * To this we may add the testimonies of Sir John Berkley and Ashburnham, the companions of his flight. " I did most humbly beg of him," says the latter in his Narra- tive, " that he would be pleased to say whether really and in very deed he was afraid of his life in that place, for his going from thence seemed to us a very great change in his affairs. His Majesty protested to God, * Heath's Chronicle, p. 150. 422 CHARLES I. that he had great cause to apprehend some attempt upon his person, and did expect every hour when it should be." After every consideration, it appears more than pro- bable that Charles was, after all, a mere puppet in the hands of Cromwell ; that it was Cromwell himself who caused the fear of assassination to be impressed upon the King's mind; that Cromwell was acquainted before- hand by his spies, with the proposed time and manner of the King's intended flight ; and that, in fact, in flying from Hampton Court, Charles merely fell into a trap which had been laid for him by that extraordinary man, whose policy it undoubtedly was to remove the King as far as possible from the Parliament, and to surround him with his own creatures. Cromwell is even said to have privately intimated to Charles, through his relation Colonel Whaley, that he could no longer be responsible for his personal safety. That there was a traitor in the court of Charles, and that his most secret counsels were instantly conveyed to Cromwell, there can scarcely be a doubt. Not the least remarkable fact, was that Colonel Hammond, the governor of the Isle of "Wight, (to whom Ashburnham proposed to entrust the King's person on their arrival in that island,)* should have left London for his government, almost at the same time that Charles departed from Hampton Court ; and that too at a time when the agitations in the army rendered it important to his own interests that he should remain at head-quarters. Dr. Barwick (who was likely to be well- informed) in the life of his brother, Dr. Peter Barwick, has the following passage : "Cromwell, by his holy cheats, seduced the good King into the Isle of Wight, and con- fined him in Carisbrook Castle," &c. Andrew Marvell, * Clarendon, vol. v., pp. 493, 495. CHARLES I. 423 also, the friend of Cromwell, and from his situation likely to have had some insight into the secret history of the period in his ode on the return of Cromwell from Ireland, has the following lines : And Hampton shows what part He had of wiser art, When twining subtle fears with hope, He wove a net of such a scope, That Charles himself might chase, To Carisbrook's narrow case. It has even been asserted that some local arrange- ments, and especially the removal of the guards to a greater distance from the King's apartments, were owing to the machinations, and were a part of the plan, of Cromwell.* That the guards were thus removed is undoubted, though Hume, who passes over the circum- stances of the King's flight in rather an apathetic manner, assures us that they were even doubled before his departure. The expression used by Colonel AVhaley to Lenthall, the Speaker, is curious : " I could no more," he says, " detain the King, if he had a mind to go, than I could keep a bird in a pound." Heath goes so far as to assert, that the King's visit to the Isle of Wight was publicly talked of in that island long before his arrival, and that the guards were removed on purpose to give him free egress from Hampton Court.t It was on a dark and tempestuous night, on the llth of November, 1647, that the King, pretending to be indisposed, retired at an early hour to his own chamber. When all was quiet, accompanied by Ashburnham, Sir * On the other hand, it is but fair to Cromwell to remark, that Milton, his Latin secretary, strongly denies, in his panegyric on the Protector, that he was the deviser of the flight. t Heath's Chronicles, p. 143. 424 CHARLES I. John Berkley, and Mr. Legge, all of them in disguise, he passed through the vaulted passages of the palace into the garden. From hence, a private door admitted them to the banks of the Thames, where a boat was in readi- ness, which conveyed them across the water to Thames- Ditton, where their horses awaited them.* The account left us by Sir John Berkley is curious : " On the Wed- nesday, as I take it," he says, "we had orders to send spare horses to Sutton, in Hampshire, a place where I never had been, and the Thursday after, his Majesty, with "Will. Legge, came out at the closing of the evening, and immediately went towards Oatlands, and so through the forest, where his Majesty was our guide, but lost our way, though he were well acquainted with it, the night being excessively dark and stormy." Having wandered at least ten miles out of their proper course, it was day- break when the fugitives reached the inn at Sutton. At this place, unluckily, they found a committee of the county sitting " about the Parliament's business," and accordingly, remounting their horses, they proceeded hurriedly on their way to Southampton. Even at this period Charles, with his usual irresolution, appears to have been undecided in what quarter to seek refuge, and at his desire all four of the fugitives led their horses down a steep hill, for the purpose of conferring on the subject. * Heath's Chronicles, p. 148 ; Herbert, p. 52. Lord Clarendon's account of the King's flight, is, in one respect, somewhat different. "They discovered," he says, " the treading of horses at a back door of the garden, into which his Majesty had a passage out of his chamber, and it is true that way he went, having appointed his horse to be there ready at an hour," &c. History of the Rebellion, vol. v., 488. It is improbable that Charles should have had a horse on the Middlesex side of the river. The river, as is well known, flows immediately under the walls of the garden ; and the utmost distance to Thames-Ditton ferry can hardly exceed half a mile. CHARLES I. 425 At length they arrived on the sea-shore, not far from Southampton. The King, being disappointed in finding a vessel which he appeared to expect for Ashburnham seems to have been the only person in his confidence, they turned their horses' heads towards Titchfield, the residence of the Countess Dowager of Southampton, to whom Charles made no scruple of discovering himself. At Titchfield the King again deliberated with his friends, as to the next step which they ought to take. During the debate, Ashburnham urged the policy of at once crossing over to the Isle of Wight, and entrusting them- selves to the care of Hammond, who, though a friend of Cromwell, and the son-in-law of Hampden, was also the nephew of the King's favourite chaplain. It was at length decided that Ashburnham and Berkley should be despatched to the island, with directions on no account to inform the Governor of the King's place of abode, unless they could obtain the most solemn assurance from Hammond, that, if unable to defend his Majesty, at least he would not detain him. On reaching Carisbrook, they learnt that Hammond had just ridden towards Newport, whither they proceeded and fell in with him. Berkley immediately took him aside, and acquainted him that the King was in the neighbourhood, but without naming his hiding-place. " Hammond," says Berkley, " grew so pale, and fell into such a trembling, that I did really believe he would have fallen off his horse, which trem- bling continued with him at least half an hour after." Hammond, as is well known, declined entering into any engagement, expressing at the same time a strong attach- ment to the King's person but alleging the duty which he owed to his superiors. Such a reception certainly intimated anything but a favourable result ; and yet Ashburnham, with inconceivable rashness, actually carried 426 CHARLES I. back the Governor \vith him to Titchfield. Charles, when acquainted with the result of the expedition, could not conceal the bitterness of the moment, " O Jack! " he said, " thou hast undone me ! " Ashburnham, as Berkley tells us, " wept bitterly," and offered to kill the Governor, but the King of course rejected the proposal. Charles had now no choice but to submit, and accordingly he accompanied Hammond to the island.* In the mean time, the inmates of Hampton Court had been amazed and confounded at the discovery of the King's flight. In all the minor details connected with the untoward enterprise, there is great difficulty in arriv- ing at the truth. Hume cursorily mentions that it was an hour before the King was missed, while Lord Clarendon seems to imply that the fact did not transpire till the fol- lowing morning : " They who went into his chamber," he says, " found that he was not there, nor had been in his bed that night." The real fact seems to have been, that he was missed about three hours after he commenced his flight.f * Clarendon, vol. v., p. 489, &c. + Whitelock says, November 12: "Letters from Lieutenant- general Cromwell, to the House, of the King's going away. That the Commissioners and Colonel Whaley missing him at supper, went into his chamber and found him gone, leaving his cloak in the gallery, and some letters of his own handwriting upon the table." Rushworth says, "November 11. This night came the unexpected news of his Majesty's escape from Hampton Court. About nine of the clock, the officers who attended him wondered he came not forth of his chamber, went in, and missed him icithin half an hour of his departure." It appears from the Journal of the House of Commons, that Cromwell's letter to the House was dated November 11, twelve at night, and mentions nine o'clock as the hour of the King's departure. It is evident, however, that as no one had seen him set off, and as his keepers had all along believed him to be safe in his apartment, the exact hour of his flight could not as yet have been ascertained. Sir John Berkley, who accom- panied Charles from Hampton Court, mentions especially that he " came forth at the closing of the evening," CHARLES I. 427 Colonel Whaley, who had the charge of his person, in his official despatch to the Speaker, minutely de- tails the circumstances of the discovery. " As for the manner, Mr. Speaker, of the King's going away, it was thus : Mondays and Thursdays were the King's set days for his writing letters to be sent into foreign parts. His usual time of coming out of his bed-chamber on those days, was betwixt five and six of the clock. Presently after he went to prayers ; and about half an hour after that to supper : at which times I set guards about his bed-chamber, because he made no long stay after supper before he retired himself thither. - " About five of the clock," proceeds "WTialey, "I came into the room next his bed-chamber, where I found the Commissioners and bed-chamber men : I asked them for the King. They told me, he was writing letters in his bed-chamber. I waited there without mistrust till six of the clock. I then began to doubt; and told the bed- chamber men, Mr. Maule and Mr. Murray, I wondered the King was so long a writing. They told me he had, they thought, some extraordinary occasion. " Within half an hour after, I went into the next room to Mr. Oudart, told him I marvelled the King was so long a writing. He answered, ' he wondered too.' But withal said, ' the King told him he was to write letters to the Princess of Orange,' which gave me some satisfaction for the present. " But my fears with the time increased. So that, when it was seven of the clock, I again told Mr. Maule, I exceedingly wondered the King was so long before he came out. He told me he was writing. I replied, pos- sibly he might be ill, therefore, I thought, he should do well to see, and to satisfy both myself and the House, that were in fears of him. He replied, the King had 428 CHARLES I. given strict commands not to molest him, therefore durst not ; besides he had bolted the door to him. " I was then extreme restless in my thoughts ; looked oft in at the key-hole, to see whether I could perceive his Majesty, but could not. Pressed Mr. Maule to knock very oft, that I might know whether his Majesty were there or not ; but all to no purpose. He still plainly told me, he durst not disobey his Majesty's commands. " When it drew towards eight of the clock, I went to Mr. Smithby, keeper of the privy lodgings, desiring him to go along with me the back way through the garden, where I had sentinels, and we went up the stairs, and from chamber to chamber, till we came to the chamber next to his Majesty's bed-chamber ; where we saw his Majesty's cloak lying on the midst of the floor, which much amazed me. "I went presently back to the Commissioners and bed-chamber men, acquainted them with it ; and there- fore desired Mr. Maule again, to see whether his Majesty was in his bed-chamber or not. He again told me he durst not. I replied, that I would then command him, and that in the name of the Parliament ; and therefore desired him to go along with me. He desired I would speak to the Commissioners to go along with us. I did ; we all went. " When we came into the room next the King's bed- chamber, I moved Mr. Maule to go in. He said, he would not except I would stand at the door. I promised I would and did. " Mr. Maule immediately came out, and said the King was gone. We all then went in, and one of the Com- missioners said, it may be the King is in his closet. Mr. Maule presently replied and said, he is gone." * * Desid. Cur. lib. ix., p. 40. CHARLES I. 429 Parties of horse and foot were instantly despatched to search the lodge in the park, as well as Ashburnham's house at Ditton and other places ; and measures were still being taken for the King's discovery, when the news of his being a prisoner in the Isle of Wight was received by the Parliament. Among other papers which were found in the King's bed-chamber, after his flight, was a kind and very creditable letter to Colonel Whaley ; who, however faithful to his employers, had never shown himself a rigorous or unfeeling keeper. " COLOKEL WHALEY, " I have been so civilly used by you and Major Huntingdon, that I cannot but by this parting farewell acknowledge it under my hand, as also to desire the con- tinuance of your courtesy, by the protecting of my house- hold-staff and moveables of all sorts which I leave behind me in this house, that they be neither spoiled nor em- bezzled. Only there are here three pictures which are not mine, that I desire you to restore ; to wit, my wife's picture in blue, sitting in a chair, you must send to Mrs. Kirk ; my eldest daughter's picture, copied by Belcan, to the Countess of Anglesey; and my Lady Stanhope's picture to Gary Raleigh. There is a fourth, which I had almost forgot, it is the original of my eldest daughter ; it hangs in this chamber over the board next the chimney, which you must send to my Lady Aubigny. So being confident that you wish my preservation and restitution, I rest, Your friend, " CHAELES EEX. " P.S. I assure you it was not the letter you showed me yesterday that made me take this resolution, nor any advertisement of that kind. But I confess that I am loath to be made a close prisoner under pretence of 430 CHARLES I. securing my life. I had almost forgot to desire you to send the black grew-bitch to the Duke of Eichmond." * On landing in the Isle of "Wight, the King passed the first night at Covres. It may be remarked that, in 1713, the minister of Newport exhibited to a person (from whom Bishop Kennett had the story), an old and curious carved bedstead, on which King Charles rested on that eventful night. On the head-board were engraved in gilt letters the words, " Uemember thy end." The King, taking it as an omen of his approaching death, knelt and prayed fervently by the bed-side.f From Cowes, Charles was conducted by Colonel Hammond to his memorable prison at Carisbrook. As he passed through Newport, a lady presented him with a damask rose, which, notwithstanding the in- clement season of the year, still flourished in her garden, accompanying the graceful offering with an ardent prayer for his happiness. The King thanked her kindly, and seemed much gratified, and even affected, by the attention. For a brief period Charles was treated at Carisbrook with every demonstration of respect. His chaplains were again allowed to attend him ; his old servants repaired to him as before, and he was permitted to ride about the island as he pleased. But the days of bitterness were fast approaching ; his chaplains were, in the first instance, removed, and lastly came an order that all whom, he had loved longest, and had most confided in, should be dis- * Heath, Chron., p. 149. t Kennett, Comp. Hist., vol. iii., p. 170. The author has recently made personal inquiries at Newport, but, notwithstanding the kind exertions of more than one individual to whom he was a stranger, could discover no trace of this interesting relic. CHARLES I. 431 charged from their further attendance on him. This was a heavy blow to Charles, and he could with difficulty conceal his grief. "Such," says Herbert, "as were at that time in the presence, noted it ; but not knowing the occasion of his Majesty's sadness, they seemed full of grief, as by their dejected looks was visible. But the King beckoning with his hand to Mr. Ashburnham and others, he told them what the governor had communi- cated. Next day, after the King had dined, those gen- tlemen came altogether, and prostrating themselves at his Majesty's feet, prayed God for his preservation, and, kissing his hand, departed." From this period the King was precluded from taking his usual rides ; his recreation being entirely confined to within the lines of the castle. The barbican, however, was converted by Hammond into a bowling-green, and afforded him some amusement. A " pretty summer-house " was also constructed on the ramparts, whither he frequently retired to commune with his own thoughts. The bowling-green on the barbican at Carisbrook, with its turf steps, the walls of the old castle frowning above it, and its beautiful marine view, was as perfect, when the author not long since visited the spot, as if it had been laid down but yesterday. A great portion of his time, at this period, was passed by Charles in the study of the Bible, and in earnest prayer. It is worthy of remark, that during his confinement at Carisbrook, persons afflicted with the evil continued to resort to him in large numbers, and from the remotest parts. Throughout the Isle of Wight the kind-hearted inhabitants were much affected by the misfortunes of their King ; and, at their assemblies, openly expressed their indignation at the treatment which he received. There was on the island a gallant man, of a good family, one Captain Burly, who had formerly commanded one of the 432 CHARLES I. King's ships of war. ^Yhen the fleet became disloyal to its Sovereign, Burly had been dismissed from his post by the Parliament ; but willing to serve his master in any capacity, he shortly afterwards entered the royal army. In his new profession he soon rose to an important com- mand, and it was only when the royal cause was utterly lost, that he had retired to his native island and to the society of his early friends. He had lived thus quietly for some time, beloved and respected, when, observing the indignation of his neighbours, he one day, with more chivalry than discretion, caused a drum to be beat ; and placing himself at the head of a small body of loyalists, called out to the people to follow him, and he would lead them to the rescue of their King. Among the assembly, however, were some cooler heads than his own, and the enterprise fell to the ground. "Poor Burly," as Lord Clarendon styles him, paid the forfeit of his rashness. The gallant fellow was condemned to be hung, drawn and quartered; and with many unnecessary circum- stances of barbarity, the sentence was carried literally into execution.* Herbert has supplied us with a list of the books in which the King most delighted at this period, x^ext to the Holy Scriptures, he says, his Majesty preferred " Bishop Andrew's Sermons, Hooker's Ecclesiastical Po- lity, Dr. Hammond's Works, Tillalpandi upon Ezekiel, Sand's Paraphrase on the Psalms of David, Herbert's Divine Poems, Fairfax's translation of Tasso, and Spen- ser's Faery Queene." During his imprisonment at Carisbrook, Charles for once clothed his melancholy feelings in poetry. The verses in question, which extend to a considerable length, are omitted in the collection of the King's works, but * Clarendon, vol. v., p. 510. CHAULES I. 433 were printed shortly afterwards by his biographer Perin- chief. Burnet, who seems to have been ignorant of the latter fact, mentions in his Lives of the Dukes of Hamilton, that " he had them from a very worthy gen- tleman," who attended on Charles, and who copied them from the original. " The mighty sense and great piety of them," he adds, " will be found to be beyond all the sublimities of poetry, which are not yet wanting here." Even "Walpole condescends to speak well of them. " The poetry," he says, " is uncouth and inharmonious ; but there are strong thoughts in them, some good sense, and a strain of majestic piety." It may be doubted if too high praise has not been passed upon this pro- duction: the following verses are certainly far from happy : Tyranny bears the title of taxation, Revenge and robbery are reformation ; Oppression gains the name of sequestration. My loyal subjects, who, in this bad season, Attend (by the law of God and reason,) They dare impeach and punish for high treason. Next at the clergy do their furies frown, Pious episcopacy must go down ; They will destroy the crosier and the crown. Churchmen are chained, and schismatics are freed, Mechanics preach, and holy fathers bleed ; The crown is crucified with the creed. The Church of England doth all faction foster, The pulpit is usurped by each impostor ; Ex tempore excludes the pater noster. Hume justly observes, that the truth of the sentiment, rather than the elegance of expression, renders them very pathetic. The following couplet also, composed by Charles in 434 CHARLES I. the treaty chamber at Newport, has been preserved by Nicholas Oudart : A coward's still unsafe, but courage knows No other foe but him who does oppose. It was the custom of Charles, at this period, to insert mottos, or remarkable verses, in the blank pages of his favourite authors. In many of them he wrote the words Dum spiro spero, while I breathe I have hope. In another book he inserted the following couplet, probably from Boethius : Bebus in adversis facile est contemnere vitam ; Fortiter ille facit, qui miser esse potest : "Which may thus be translated : In grief 'tis easy to despise the grave, Who dares be wretched, is the truly brave. And again, from Claudian : Fallitur egregio quisquis sub principe credit Servitium ; nunquam libertas gratior extat, Quam sub rege pio. There is no slavery in a good man's rule ; But ne'er does liberty more grateful spring, Than 'neath the empire of a pious King.* After a confinement of several months at Carishrook, Charles was removed to the house of a private gentleman at Newport, where his friends were once more permitted to visit him. This change was rendered necessary in consequence of the personal negotiation which was pending between Charles and the Parliamentary Com- missioners ; there being a want of space, and other faci- * The copy of Shakspeare's Plays which belonged to Charles, con- taining several of these interesting insertions, is preserved in the royal library at Windsor. This relic is rendered the more curious from its pages being interspersed with many autograph annotations of King George the Third. CHARLES I. 435 lities, at Carisbrook, by which the treaty could commo- diously be carried on. The change was an agreeable one to Charles, who had been long in constant dread of assassination. To Sir John Bowring he said : " I have had a sad time of it, since the two Houses imprisoned me in this castle, expecting every hour when 1 should be murdered." One day, at Newport, the King beckoned Sir Philip Warwick to the window where he was standing, and, pointing out to him a little hump-backed man in the street, inquired if he knew who it was. Sir Philip answering that he had never seen him before, " I show him to you," said Charles, "because he was the best companion I had for three months together at Caris- brook, where he used to light my fires." Sir Philip "Warwick relates another interesting incident which occurred about the same period. " One evening," he says, "the King's favourite dog scraping at the door, his Majesty desired Sir Philip to let in Gipsy. 1 " " I perceive," said the latter, as he opened the door, " that your Majesty loves greyhounds better than spaniels." " Yes," replied Charles, " for they are both equally attached, and the greyhound is no flatterer." The inte- resting apartments, which witnessed these scenes, are now occupied by the Tree School of Newport. The famous Treaty Chamber is the present school-room. The Commissioners, who presided at the treaty, are said to have been much surprised, if they were not affected, at the melancholy change, which sorrow, rather than time, had produced in the appearance of Charles. Though less than a year had elapsed since they had last seen him at Hampton Court, his hair had become almost entirely grey. Since the expulsion also of his servants he had worn nearly the same clothes, and had allowed his beard and the hair of his head to grow at will. Nevertheless 7F 2 436 CHARLES I. his mind appeared as clear as over, and his cheerfulness and manly dignity were even more conspicuous than in the days of hia greatness. Previously to his quitting Carisbrook, Charles, it may be mentioned, had entertained more than one project of escape, and, on one of these occasions, had very nearly effected his purpose. There are extant several letters, which passed between the King and one of his faithful followers, relative to the attempt. In one of them, which is without date, Mr. Firebrace thus writes to the King : " This night I have thought of a new project, which, by the grace of God, will effect your business. 'Tis this. In the back-stairs window are two casements, in each two bars : one of the bars, in that next the door, shall be cut, which will give you way enough to go out. I am certain the top of the hill comes within a yard of the casement, so that you may easily step out, and keep close to the wall till you come to a hollow place, (which you may observe as you walk to morrow,) where with ease you may go down and so over the outworks. If you like this way, it shall be carried on thus. Hen. C shall cut the bar, and do up the gap with wax or clay, so that it cannot be perceived. I have already made it loose at the top, so that when you intend your business, you shall only pull it, and it will come forth. You must sup late and come up so soon as you have supped. Put off" your George and on your grey stockings, and on notice to be given you by Hen. C , come into the back stairs and so step out. We shall meet you, and conduct you to your horses, and then to the boat." Charles writes in reply to this letter, 26th April, 1648 : " I have now made perfect trial, and find it impossible to be done; for my body is much too thick for the breadth of the window, so that unless the middle bar be CHAELES I. 437 taken away, I cannot get through. I have also looked upon the other, and find the one much too little, and the other so high, that I know not how to reach it without a ladder ; besides, I do not believe it so much wider than the other, as that it will serve ; wherefore, it is absolutely impossible to do anything to-morrow at night." * All difficulties, however, were at length apparently removed : on a particular night horses had been placed in readiness, and a vessel had been provided for his transportation, when unfortunately the design was discovered. Charles, it appears, had been furnished with a saw and file, with which instruments, after considerable labour, he had suc- ceeded in sawing through one of the bars of the window. At midnight, the hour agreed upon with his friends without, he was proceeding to make his escape, when he heard, what was extremely unusual, some persons in con- versation below. Suspecting that his purpose had trans- pired, he closed the window hastily, and retired to bed. In the mean time Hammond, who seems to have pre- viously had some intimation of what was passing, suddenly entered the King's apartment, and discovered by the removal of the bar, that his suspicions had been correct. A second attempt at escape, which proved equally un- fortunate in its result, is recorded both by Clarendon and Ashburnham. Charles, on this occasion, placing faith in the vulgar notion, that where the head can make its egress the body can invariably follow, had inserted his head through the bars : but was unable, by forcing himself either backwards or forwards, to extricate himself from his painful situation. In this predicament he was com- pelled to call for assistance-, and of course the project * Life of Dr. J. Barwick, by Dr. P. Barwick, pp. 383391. Appendix. 438 CHARLES I. transpired.* There is reason to suppose, that had Charles effected his descent from the window, he would have been fired at by a traitor below ; indeed, the suspected person, one Eolph, was afterwards tried at Winchester assizes for the conspiracy. The trial, however, was a mere juggle: Eolph was placed under no kind of restraint; the jury were prejudiced in his behalf, and even the judge interfered in his favour. The consequence was, that the bill was ignored by the grand jury ; composed, nearly to a man, of the same individuals, who had recently sent poor Burly to an untimely death.f * Ashburnham says in his Narrative : "He discovered upon trial that he could pass his body between the bars of the window of his chamber, because he found there was room enough for his head, (the rule being that where the head can pass the body may,) but most un- happily he mistook the way of measure, for instead of putting his head forth sideways, he did it right forward, by which error, when all things were adjusted for his escape the second time, and that he thought to put in execution what he thought so sure, (his passage through the window,) he stuck so fast in it, and (as he pleased to send me word) did strain so much in the attempt, as he was in great extremity, though with long and painful straggling he got back again." See also Sir John Bowi-litjs account of Secret Transactions in the Isle of Wight. t Clarendon, vol. vl, pp. 192198 ; Herbert, p. 115. 439 CHAPTER XVI. Charles's Observation on parting with the Commissioners The King's Refusal to break his Parole His departure from Newport Hurst Castle and its grim Captain The King's Confinement there Midnight Visit of Major Harrison Removal of the King Loyalty of the People of Winchester Lord Newburgh's Scheme for the King's Escape Treatment of Charles at Windsor Announcement to him of a Public Trial his departure from Windsor Military Cavalcade conducting the King to London His arrival at St. James's His Treatment there Discontinuance of all State Cere- mony The King's Sufferings at this Period Ashburnham's futile Project for the King's Escape Proclamation for his approach- ing Trial He is conveyed to Cotton House, and summoned to attend his Trial Appearance of Westminster Hall on that Occasion Bradshaw, the President, in danger of Assassination Demeanour of Charles when conducted to the Bar Daring Conduct of Lady Fairfax Charles's Denial of the Authority of the Court Brad- shaw's brutal Behaviour Indignities heaped on Charles An evil Omen Bradshaw and his Wife on the Morning of the last Day of the King's Trial Sentence of Death pronounced Its Effect on Charles Bradshaw prohibits the King from speaking Insulting Conduct of the Soldiers Public Sympathy Removal of Charles to St. James's. IT was nearly at the close of the Treaty of Newport, when all hope of accommodation was evidently at an end, that Charles was standing at a window, employed in dictating to Sir Philip Warwick, when a thought seemed suddenly to strike him. It was apparently the fate of Strafford which was uppermost in his mind. He wished, he said, that he had never consulted any one but himself; and he added, in a plaintive voice : " With Job I would willinglier have chosen misery than sin." While he 440 CHARLES I. spoke these words the tears gathered in his eyes, and rolled down his cheeks. " They were the biggest drops," adds Sir Philip, " that ever I saw fall from an eye ; but, recollecting himself, he turned presently his head away, for he was loth it should be discerned." His parting with the Commissioners was affecting. " My Lords," he said, " I believe we shall scarce see each other again ; but Grod's will be done. I have made my peace with Him, and shall undergo, without fear, whatever He may suffer men to do to me." * The time had now arrived when Charles was to bid farewell to the Isle of "Wight ; and accordingly Colonel Cobbit, with a party of horse, was despatched thither to effect his removal. It was at this period that the King was strongly pressed by his friends to make another effort to escape ; but he was at this time on his parole, and, notwithstanding the affectionate entreaties of the Earl of Lindsey and Colonel Cook, he positively refused to exchange honour for freedom. After combating their arguments for some time, " G-ood night," said the King, "I shall go and take my rest." "Which, I fear," rejoined Cook, taking up the words, " will not be long." Charles, perceiving Cook to be much discomposed: "Ned," he said, " what troubleth you ?" Cook replied, " that it was his Majesty's danger, and the disinclination which he showed to adopt any measures which might avert it." ""Were your trouble greater," replied Charles, " I would not forfeit my word to alleviate it." f On the morning after this conversation. Colonel Cobbit presented himself to the King, and formally com- municated to him the nature of his instructions. He refused, however, to acquaint the King either with his * Evelyn's Memoirs, Appendix. t Kennett, voL iii., p. 178. CHARLES I. destination, or whether the instructions had emanated from the Parliament or from the army. After a brief colloquy, Cobbit pressed his Majesty to enter his coach, which he had given orders should be in readiness. Charles, for a few minutes only, lingered to bid farewell to those faith- ful servants, whom he probably never expected to meet again : like those about f him, he seemed to be fully satis- fied that it was to be his last journey, and that he was proceeding to a violent death. "Never," says Herbert, who was present, " was beheld more grief in men's faces, or greater fears in their hearts, the King being at such a time, and in such a manner, hurried away, they knew not whither; but no remedy appearing, the noblemen, the venerable persons, and other his Majesty's servants, approached to kiss the King's hand, and to pour forth their supplications to Almighty God to safeguard and comfort his Majesty in that his disconsolate condition." Charles, who on similar melancholy occasions had been the most cheerful of the party, could not conceal the mental suffering which he endured. As he was entering his coach, Cobbit, without any invitation, exhibited an intention of entering it also, but the King, by pointedly opposing his foot, made him sensible that the intrusion was as un- palatable as it was insolent. The Duke of Richmond was allowed to attend him, but only for the distance of two miles. His only other companions were Herbert, Harrington, and Mildmay, his carver. When the Duke of Richmond kissed the King's hand, on taking his melancholy fare- well, Charles desired that he would carry back his kind remembrance to the Earl of Lindsey and Colonel Cook : ''tell Colonel Cook from me," he said, "never to forget the passages of this night." * * Kennett, voL iiL, p. 178. 442 CHARLES I. A more wretched spot can scarcely be conceived, than that in which Charles once more found himself incar- cerated. On a narrow and gloomy promontory, extend- ing about a mile and a-half into the sea, stands Hurst Castle, remarkable, in the days of Charles, for its noxious vapours, and so unwholesome that a frequent change of the garrison was rendered absolutely necessary ; * " a dismal receptacle," observes Herbert, " for so great a monarch, the greatest part of whose life had been so full of earthly glory." " The captain of this wretched place," adds Herbert, " was not ill suited to the scene around. At the King's going ashore he stood ready to receive him with small observance : his look was stern, his hair and large beard were black and bushy : he held a partizan in his hand, and a great basket-hilt sword by his side ; hardly could one see a man of a more grim aspect, and no less robust and rude was his behaviour: some of his Majesty's servants were not a little fearful of him." This formidable personage, however, appears to have been a mere bully ; for his rudeness having been complained of to his superior officer, he instantly sank into the insignificant underling. During the three weeks that Charles remained at Hurst, there was but little indeed to divert the melan- choly of his thoughts. His walks were confined to a shingly shore, the nature of which rendered his favourite exercise extremely unpleasant ; his accommodations were slender in the last degree; and his apartment was so dark that he required candles at noon-day. Indeed, from the time he had first been a prisoner in the Isle of Wight, his personal luxuries had never been very carefully attended to. He told Sir Philip "Warwick that " though * Heath, p. 193 ; Clar., vol. vi., p. 203; Walker's History of Inde- pendency, Part ii., p. 27. CHARLES I. 443 he had never complained, yet he had frequently been in want even of clean linen." It was during the latter part of the King's stay at Hurst, that, about midnight, an unusual noise was heard in the castle. The drawbridge was suddenly let down, and the sound of horses' feet was distinctly audible. The noise awoke the King, who rang his silver bell for Herbert, and desired him to ascertain the cause of the disturbance. All, however, that Herbert could discover, was, that Major Harrison had arrived at the castle with a troop of horse. The King made no remark at the time, but desiring Herbert to retire into the outer room, he composed himself to prayer. In less than an hour he opened the door, and appeared to be in so much affliction that Herbert could not refrain from tears. " I am not afraid," said the King ; " but do not you know that this is the man who intended to assassinate me ? " adding, " this is a fit place for such a purpose. Herbert," he said, " I trust to your care ; go again, and make further inquiry into his business." Herbert soon returned, bringing with him the information that his Majesty was immediately to be removed to Windsor. At this news the King appeared much pleased, forgetting that it was but too probably another step to the block. Two days after this event the King bade adieu to Hurst, and commenced his journey towards London. At Win- chester he met with much respect, and an appearance of loyalty to which he had been long a stranger. The bells of the town were rung ; the Mayor and Aldermen received him at his entry, and presented him with the keys and mace of the city ; the gentry flocked in numbers to welcome him, and the people hailed him with acclamations.* He passed the night at a gentleman's house at Farnham, * Heath's Chron., p. 193 ; Herbert, p. 133. 444 CHARLES I. where he was waited on by several officers of the army, and by many of the influential persons in the neighbour- hood. His manner at this period again became at least that of a cheerful, if not of a happy man. The next day he dined at Lord JSTewburgh's house at Bagshot, where another wild scheme had been devised to effect his escape. Lord Newburgh having ascertained that the King was shortly to be removed to Windsor, had sent privately to his Majesty, recommending, that before he reached Bagshot, he should contrive to lame the horse which he rode; adding, that he would then supply him with another from his own stables, which he undertook should be one of the fleetest in England. Charles, it was proposed, should delay his departure from Lord Newburgh's house to as late an hour as possible, in the hope that night would have set in before the ca- valcade reach the centre of Windsor forest, with the intricacies of which Charles had been familiar from his boyhood : he was then to seize a favourable opportunity of setting spurs to his horse, and galloping away from his keepers. Accordingly, the King, as they approached Bagshot, began making complaints of the horse which he rode, and, moreover, expressed a strong desire to dine with Lord ^ewburgh. At Bagshot, however, the infor- mation was conveyed to him, that the horse in which he had so much trusted had been lamed the day before.* Even had this accident not happened, it is difficult to believe that he could have escaped the vigilance, or at least the pistols, of his keepers. At Windsor he was treated with much civility by Colonel Whichcot, the Governor of the Castle. For some time he seemed to take an interest in passing events; so much so, that we find him sending the seeds of some * Clarendon, roL vi., p. 221. JAMES, DUKE OF HAMILTON. OB, 1649, CHARLES I. 445 Spanish melons to be planted in the Queen's gardens at Wimbledon. He generally walked on that part of "Windsor terrace which looks towards Eton, and which his private apartments also overlooked. When Whichcot informed him that, in a few days, he was to be conveyed to Whitehall, " God," he said, " is everywhere alike, in wisdom, power and goodness." It was here that the first intimation was conveyed to him that he was to be treated in future as a state criminal. When the proba- bility of his- being subjected to a public trial was an- nounced to him, he retired to his own chamber, and passed a considerable time in solitude and prayer. On the day fixed for his departure from Windsor, ho was conducted through a double line of soldiers to the round Tower, or Keep, where his coach was in readiness to receive him. Here he was allowed a brief interview with the unfortunate Duke of Hamilton, who was also a prisoner in the castle. The Duke fell on his knees, and kissing the King's hand, exclaimed in a passion of grief, " ]\Ty dear master ! " Charles replied, " / have indeed been go to you." After a tender and solemn farewell, the kind monarch and the loyal subject were separated for the last time.* At the great gate of the castle, as also at the end of Peascod-street, and again in the market-place, the King was joined by different detachments of soldiers, who severally placed themselves under the command of Major Harrison, and followed close behind the royal coach. One Proctor, in his evidence at the trial of Hugh Peters, thus describes his encountering them on the road. "Having occasion,'' he says, "to go from London to Windsor, the day that the King was brought from thence a prisoner, a little on this side Brentford I saw a great troop of horse : I did conceive what the cause was, having * Burnet, Lives of the Dukes of Hamilton, p. 379. 446 CHATILES I. heard the King was to be brought up to his trial. After I had passed some number of horses, at last I espied the prisoner at the bar immediately before the King's coach, riding singly before the coach-horses, and the King sitting alone ill the coach. My lord, I did put off my hat, and he was graciously pleased to put off his hat. The troopers seeing this, threw me into the ditch, horse and all, where I stayed till they passed by, and was glad I escaped so." * It was probably about this period, that the fanatical buffoon, Hugh Peters, pressed his spiritual assistance upon his persecuted Sovereign : " I did intend" said the republican, " to preach before tlie poor wretch, but the poor wretch would not hear me." f Passing through Brentford and Hammersmith, the cavalcade con- ducted the King to St. James's Palace, the scene of many happier days, and destined to be the last fixed prison of the persecuted monarch. On his arrival at St. James's, the first act of Charles was to retire to his own chamber, where he continued some time in prayer and in the perusal of the Bible. For about a fortnight he was treated with some regard to his exalted rank, though with little respect to his private feelings. Although the principal nobility, his favourite servants, and his domestic chaplains, were excluded from his society, he was still attended with some degree of former state. He dined publicly in the presence- chamber ; the gentlemen of his household waited on him at his meals, and the cup as usual was presented to him on the knee. Nevertheless, the strictest guard was placed over his person, and only one of his followers, the affectionate Herbert, was permitted to attend him in his bed-chamber. But even the mockery of respect was con- tinued but for a few days. It was decreed, at one of the * Trial of the Regicides, p. 518. f Ibid., p. 165. CHAELES I. 447 councils of the army, that henceforward all state cere- mony should be dispensed with, and that the number of his domestics, and even the dishes supplied to his table, should be diminished. "When this unfeeling and parsi- monious curtailment, and the absence of many familiar faces, were first witnessed by Charles, and when his restricted meal was brought into his presence by common soldiers "There is nothing," he remarked, "more con- temptible than a despised Prince." From this time he caused his food to be conveyed into his own chamber, and ate his dinner in private. In one of the suppressed passages of Lord Clarendon's history, there is a heart-stirring account of the King's sufferings at this period, but it scarcely appears to be borne out by the testimony of other writers. According to the noble historian, a guard of soldiers was forced upon him, night as well as day, even in his bed-chamber, where they smoked and drank as if they had been among their own comrades in the guard-room. Another project was now set on foot to effect his escape, but it was attended with the usual fatality. Ashburn- ham says in his Narrative : " I laid the design of his escape from St. James's, and had attempted it, had he not been close restrained that very day it was to be put in execution, of which there are three persons of honour yet living who were to have had equal shares in that dutiful action ; but man proposeth, and God disposeth, and no creature is able to resist His power." It may be remarked that such soldiers, as had once guarded the King, were never again selected for the same duty. It was apprehended that their feelings might be too much wrought upon by so affecting a scene of piety and distress. Charles, though in daily fear of private assassination 448 CHARLES I. to the last could scarcely comprehend the possibility of his being subjected to public trial. He believed that he might be imprisoned for life, that monarchy might be abolished in his person, or that possibly his son might be called upon to reign in his room ; but as to the awful catastrophe -which followed, he seems scarcely to have regarded it as a possible disaster. However, on the 9th of January, 1649, to the astonishment of the citizens of London, a serjeant-at-arms rode into the middle of Westminster-hall, and, with the sound of drums and trumpets, solemnly announced the approaching trial. Accordingly, on the 19th, the King was conveyed in a sedan-chair from St. James's, through the park, to his usual bed-chamber at Whitehall, at the door of which a guard of soldiers was placed in readiness to receive him. In order to have Herbert nearer his person, he desired him to bring his pallet-bed into his own chamber. The next day the King was conveyed in a sedan-chair to the house of Sir Robert Cotton, on the banks of the Thames, near the south end of Westminster-hall. King- street and Palace-yard were lined on each side with soldiers, between whom the unhappy monarch passed : Herbert, the only one of his servants who was allowed to attend him, walked by his side, bare-headed. Shortly after his arrival at Cotton-house, Charles was summoned by Colonel Hacker to attend that self-consti- tuted tribunal, the subsequent proceedings of which will ever be viewed with feeb'ngs of astonishment and awe. Apart from the amazing spectacle of a great nation sitting in judgment on its Sovereign ; apart from the melancholy considerations suggested by so painful a picture of fallen greatness as was presented in the person of Charles, the scene which presented itself must have been imposing and magnificent in the extreme. At CHARLES I. 44-9 the upper, or south end, of the hall, on benches covered with scarlet, and raised one above the other, sat the judges, whose numbers amounted to about seventy. In the centre, on a raised platform, was placed a chair of state for the President Bradshaw : it was covered with crimson velvet, as was also a desk placed before him for his use. Immediately facing Bradshaw was placed a chair of velvet for the King ; and in the space between them was a table, covered with a rich Turkey carpet, on which the mace and the sword of justice were laid, and at which the two clerks of the court were seated. On either side of the hall, galleries had been erected for the convenience of spectators ; and behind, and on the right and left of the King, were the soldiers and officers of the court ; Cook, the solicitor for the self-styled people of England, standing on the King's right hand. A strong bar ran across the centre of the hall, behind which were crowded the populace in a dense mass. Even the leads and windows of the old hall were crowded with soldiers. This was not so much intended as a precaution to prevent the escape or rescue of the King, as to protect the persons of the judges. Bradshaw, the President, stood in no slight danger of assassination. One Burghill, a royalist, had made up his mind to shoot him, but his intentions having been discovered, he was instantly arrested : fortunately for him, the soldiers who guarded Burghill becoming intoxicated, he was enabled to escape. Bradshaw, well aware of his danger, had pro- vided himself with a high-crowned beaver hat lined with steel. This remarkable relic, with a suitable Latin in- scription, was afterwards presented to the Museum at Oxford, where it is still preserved. The King, on entering Westminster-hall, was received from the custody of Colonel Hacker by the Serjeant-at- VOL. i. o Q 450 CHARLES I. arms, who conducted his Majesty to the bar. After looking sternly at his judges, and on the galleries on each side of him, he seated himself without even taking off his hat, or showing the least respect for the court. As he approached, there was not an eye amidst that vast assem- bly that was not fixed with intense interest or curiosity upon the pale and memorable features of the devoted monarch. A few minutes afterwards he rose from his chair, and turning round, fixed his eyes steadily on the guards and the crowd of people behind him. While the charge was being read, he sat unmoved and maintained his usual placidity of countenance ; only at some of the more absurd or daring allegations he was occasionally observed to smile. " One thing was remarked in him," says Mrs. Hutchinson in her Memoirs ; " that when the blood spilt in many of the battles, where he was in his own person, and had caused it to be shed by his own command, was laid to his charge, he heard it with dis- dainful smiles and looks and gestures. He stuck not to declare in words, that no man's blood spilt in this quarrel troubled him but only one, meaning the Earl of Strafford." A singular incident for a moment disturbed the solem- nity of the scene. When the name of Fairfax, the Lord General, was called over, and no answer was returned, a female voice exclaimed from one of the galleries, " He has more wit than to be here." The interruption was allowed to pass unnoticed, but very different was the scene, when, in the course of reading the charge, the proceedings were stated to be on behalf of the people of England, and the same mysterious voice called out still louder " No, not the hundredth part of them ! It is false where are they ? Oliver Cromwell is a traitor." The utmost con- fusion was the consequence, and Colonel Axtell even CHARLES I. 451 desired the soldiers to fire into the gallery from whence the voice issued. It was soon discovered that Lady Fairfax, the wife of the General, and a daughter of the House of Yere, was the daring person, and she was of course instantly compelled to retire.* Lady Fairfax was not the only voice which was that day raised for majesty in distress. As Charles passed through the hall to Cotton-house, on returning from the court, there were loud cries of "God save the King!" an unexpected manifestation of public feeling, which was gratefully acknowledged by the unhappy monarch. Charles, by the advice, it is said, of Sir Matthew Hale, persisted in denying the authority of the court. Un- doubtedly, it was the wisest and most dignified course he could have adopted ; besides having the effect of shortening the proceedings, and consequently his own sufferings. The behaviour of Bradshaw was inconceivably brutal. When, at the close of the day's proceedings, he ordered the guards, with a surly insolence of manner, to remove the prisoner, Charles pointed with his cane to the sword on the table, "Sir," he said, "I do not fear that" As soon as the proceedings were over, the King was again conducted to Cotton-house, where he passed the night ; Herbert making up his bed on the floor, and * "I was present," says Sir Purbeck Temple, "at all the trials of the King, and very near him. I heard the King demand from Bradshaw, by what authority and commission they proceeded thus strangely to try him. Then I heard the Lady Fairfax, and one Mrs. Nelson, my sister, after the exhibiting of the charge in the name of the Commons assembled in Parliament, and the good people of this kingdom, against Charles Stuart King of England ; I say, I heard the lady cry out from a gallery over the court, ' Not half the people ! It is false ; where are they or their consents ? Oliver Cromwell is a traitor.' Upon which I heard Axtell cry out, ' Down with the w s ! shoot them, ' which made me take farther notice of him." Trial of the Kegicidet, p. 185. G G 2 452 CHARLES I. sleeping by his side. The next day being Sunday, afforded him a respite, and he spent many hours with Bishop Juxon, either in prayer or religious conversation. On the following morning, the 22nd of January, the King was again placed before his judges. On this occasion, having been brought to Westminster by water, although the soldiers who guarded him wore their caps as usual, the watermen positively refused to sit covered in his presence. As Charles entered the hall, the soldiers raised loud cries for justice, some of the officers joining in the clamour. It seems to have been the only instance in which he changed countenance ; but the pang was easily mastered, or at least was only momentarily displayed. A by-stander, Sir Purbeck Temple, describes the indig- nities which were this day heaped upon the suffering monarch. In his evidence at the trial of Colonel Axtell, " I saw him [Axtell]," he says, " the most active person there ; and during the time that the King was urging to le heard, he was then laughing, entertaining his soldiers, scoffing aloud ; whilst some of the soldiers, by his suffering, and, I believe, procurement, did fire powder in the palms of their hands, that they did not only offend his Majesty's smell, but enforced him to rise up out of his chair, and with his hand to turn away the smoke ; and after this he turned about to the people and smiled upon them, and those soldiers that so rudely treated him." * As he was quitting "Westminster Hall on the second day, one of the soldiers, as he passed by, exclaimed, " God bless you, Sir ! " The King thanked him, but the * Trial of the Regicides, p. 185. It is but fair to the Republican party to observe that the evidence given by the Royalists at the trial of the Regicides must be received with caution. CHARLES I. 453 man's officer overhearing the benediction, struck him severely with his cane on the head. " Me thinks," said Charles, " the punishment exceedeth the offence." One person was actually brutal enough to spit in his face : the King quietly wiped it away. "My Saviour," he remarked, " suffered more than this for me." The man who was guilty of this brutality is supposed to have been Augustine Garland, a lawyer, and one of the King's judges ; Garland, however, positively denied the fact. As soon as the soldiers had conducted Charles to his apartment, he fell on his knees in prayer ; but even quiet was a boon denied to him. " When they had brought him to his chamber," says Perinchief, "even there they suffered him not to rest ; but thrusting in and smoking their filthy tobacco, they permitted him no privacy to prayer and meditation." The King asked Herbert if he had heard the cry of the soldiers in the morning. Herbert answered that he had, and that he could not but wonder at their vehement animosity. " I am well assured," said the King, " that the soldiers bear no malice to me ; the cry was no doubt given by their officers, for whom the soldiers would do the like, were there occasion." To another person he remarked " Poor souls, for a little money they would do as much against their commanders." On the third day of the trial, the 23rd of January, the King was guarded to the hall with the same care and ceremony as on the preceding occasions. Nothing of importance occurred on this day, except that the gold head of his cane fell off, which he considered to be an evil omen. On his return to Cotton-house in the evening, the populace pressed on him in spite of the soldiers, many of them exclaiming " God preserve your Majesty," and demanding blessings from Heaven on 454 CHARLES I. their afflicted King. Charles appeared much gratified, and repeatedly returned them thanks for their good wishes and prayers. It was on the morning of the fourth and last day, the day of condemnation, that Bradshaw's wife rushed into her husband's chamber at "Westminster, (where he had been lodged for safety and convenience,) and solemnly beseeched him, by his hopes of happiness here and here- after, to absent himself in future from Westminster Hall. "Do not," she said, " sentence this earthly King, for fear of the dreadful sentence of the King of Heaven : you have no child, why should you do such a monstrous act to favour others ? " Bradshaw pushed her away. "I confess," he said, "he has done me no harm, nor will I do him any, except what the law commands." Bradshaw, it would seem, was intoxicated with the extraordinary position in which he found himself placed : the insignificant lawyer had risen to be the judge of his Sovereign, the elected chief magistrate of the people of England. This day the President entered the hall in his scarlet gown, a signal to Charles that his doom was fixed, and that, before another sun had set, the fatal sentence would be pronounced. After a vulgar and tiresome tirade from Bradshaw, the " 0, yes," was pronounced, and silence commanded in the court. The clerk then read the sentence, which formally accused him of being the author and continuer of the late unnatural, cruel, and bloody wars, and con- sequently guilty of high treason ; and of all the murders, rapines, burnings, spoils, desolations, damages, and mis- chiefs, occasioned by, and committed during, the said wars; "for which treason and crimes," it proceeded, "this Court doth adjudge that he, the said Charles Stuart, as a tyrant, traitor, murderer, and public enemy CHARLES I. 455 to the good people of this nation, shall be put to death, by severing his head from his body." As soon as the sentence was concluded, the king smiled calmly ; lifting up his eyes as if pleading for that mercy in Heaven, which he \vas denied upon earth. Bradshaw then stood up. " The sentence now read and published," he said, "is the act, sentence, judgment, and resolution of the whole court." On this, as had already been agreed upon, the whole of the judges also rose, as a tacit acknowledgment of their acquiescence and consent. The King, with the same placid smile, inquired of the President if he would hear him for a few moments. Bradshaw. Sir, you are not to be heard after the sentence. Charles. No, Sir ? Bradshaw. K"o, Sir, by your favour. Guards, with- draw your prisoner. Charles. I may speak after the sentence, by your favour, Sir. I may speak after the sentence, ever. By your favour Bradshaw. Hold ! Charles. The sentence, Sir ; I say, Sir, I do Bradshaw. Hold ! Charles. I am not suffered to speak ! Expect what justice the people will have. Before he could say more, the King was removed by the Guards. The regicides accounted for their refusal to listen to the condemned Monarch, by an argument too absurd even to be plausible. The King, they said, being accounted dead in law, a hearing could not be permitted. As Charles passed, for the last time, through that famous hall, the banqueting-room of the Kings his ancestors, and the trial-scene of more than one of his own friends, 456 CHARLES I. he was insulted in the grossest manner by the poor hirelings whom he passed. The soldiers not only smoked their tobacco in his face, and threw their pipes before him in his path, but also heaped on him the lowest and most virulent abuse. From Westminster the King was conveyed, in a sedan chair, through a double line of soldiers, to his chambers at "Whitehall. As he passed through King-street, the more respectable inhabitants, many of them with tears in their eyes, stood at their stalls and windows, offering up audible prayers, some for his temporal safety, and others for his eternal happiness. After a delay of two hours he was removed to St. James's, where he passed the three remaining days of his life. 457 CHAPTER XVII. Charles's Dignity and Fortitude in his Last Hours his preparation for Death Herbert's Mission to Lady Wheeler The King's Farewell Interview with his Children The Fatal Morning The King's Bequests his Devotions his Progress from St. James's to the Scaffold his Arrival at Whitehall The Summons to Execution. THE importance of religion, and the advantages of a virtuous life, were never more beautifully exemplified than in the last hours of Charles. His accumulated miseries, his loss of power, and the prospect of dissolu- tion, were nothing to a mind prepared like his ; to the brave man, the pious Christian, the conscientious monarch. How well did he say to Lord Digby, " Either I will live as a king, or die like a gentleman" There was nothing of that fanatical enthusiasm, or those false and rapturous ecstasies, which so often sullied the zeal and sanctity of his persecutors : his death was that of a good man, who forgave his persecutors, and trusted in his God. His dignity and his fortitude, too, were all his own. Bishop Juxon, his spiritual adviser, was a cold dry man, but little calculated to excite an adventitious enthusiasm in the last hours of life. With the assistance of this prelate, the King prepared himself for the latest scene. Having sent his kindest remembrances to his friends, he gave directions that he should by no means be interrupted in his preparation for death. " I know," he said, " my nephew the Elector, will endeavour it, and other Lords that love me, which I 458 CHARLES I. should take in good part, but my time is short and precious, and I am desirous to improve it the best I may in preparation. I hope they will not take it ill that none have access to me but my children. The best office they can do now is to pray for me." The same night, according to a contemporary journal, " The Moderate Intelligencer," " he commanded his dogs should be taken away, and sent to his wife, as not willing to have anything present that might take him off from serious consideration of himself. Being desired to say somewhat, how far he was guilty of the death of his father, and the rebellion of Ireland, he said, ' with reverence of God be it spoken, he had done nothing that he needed to ask pardon for.' " When some of the dissenting ministers requested permission to pray with him, he told them he had already selected his ghostly adviser ; at the same time, thanking them for their offer, and desiring they would remember him in their prayers. On one of the intermediate nights between his trial and execution, the King took a ring from his finger, on which was an emerald set between two diamonds, and, placing it in Herbert's hands, desired him to proceed with it to a certain house in Channel Row, at the back of King Street, Westminster, where he was to deliver it to the lady of the house without saying a word. This person was Lady Wheeler, the King's laundress. Having obtained the watchword from Colonel Tornlinson, Herbert proceeded on a dark night, to the spot which the King had named. Having obtained admittance, he was told by the lady to wait in the parlour till she returned. She shortly afterwards re-entered the room, and, placing in his hands a small cabinet closed with three seals, desired him to deliver it to the person from whom he had received the ring. The next morning, in Herbert's presence, CHARLES I. 459 the King broke the seals, when the cabinet was found to contain a number of diamonds and jewels, most of them set in broken insignia of the Order of the Garter. " This," said the King, " is all the wealth which I have it in my power to bequeath to my children." The day before his execution, the Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Gloucester were allowed to take a last farewell of their unfortunate father. The Princess, an extraordinary child, was deeply affected ; while the little Duke, taking his impressions from the scene around him, wept almost as bitterly. They both fell on their knees and craved their father's blessing. The King raised them up and kissed them affectionately. Placing the Princess on his knee, he desired her to tell her brother, James, that he must no longer regard Charles as his elder brother, but as his Sovereign ; adding that it was his dying wish they should love one another, and forgive their father's enemies. He told her not to grieve for him, for he died for the laws and liberties of the land, and for the maintenance of the Protestant religion. He desired her to tell her mother that bis thoughts had never strayed from her, and that his love had survived to the last. He then gave her his blessing, enjoining her to con- vey it to her brothers, and sisters, and to remember him to all who were dear to him. "But, sweetheart," he said, "you will forget this." "No," she replied, "I never shall forget it while I live;" and bursting into tears afresh, promised to write down whatever he had said to her. Then he took the Duke of Gloucester on his knee. "Sweetheart," he said, "they will cut off thy father's head." The child looked wistfully in his face. "Mark, child, what I say: they will cut off my head, and perhaps 460 CHARLES I. make thee a king ; * but mark what I say ; you must not be made a king, as long as your brothers, Charles and James, are alive ; for they will cut off your brothers' heads when they catch them, and cut off thy head at last ; and, therefore, I charge you not to be made a king by them." The child replied, " he would be torn in pieces first," an answer from one so young, which evidently afforded great pleasure to the King. He then presented his children with his jewels, and, while the tears rolled down his cheeks, kissed them both fondly, and prayed the Almighty to bless them. He watched their depar- ture with a father's grief, and, as the door of the apart- ment was closing on them, moved hastily towards them from the window where he was standing, and folding them once more in his arms, again kissed and blessed them, and bade them farewell for ever. . The remainder of the day was spent in prayer and meditation. Bishop Juxon preached a sermon before him, taking for his text, Eomans ii. v. 16 : " In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ," &c. When the discourse was at an end he received the Sacrament, and afterwards continued till a late hour of the night in conversation with the Bishop. After his departure he remained about two hours praying and reading by himself. He then called to Herbert to place his bed on the floor by his own. Herbert enjoyed but little rest, but the King slept calmly for about four hours. On the fatal morning, about two hours before day- break, he awoke, and drawing back his curtains, called to his faithful attendant, whom he perceived much troubled * The King's foresight is remarkable. In 1654, the question of calling the Duke of Gloucester, with limited powers, to the throne, was seriously discussed by the Republicans. CHARLES I. 461 in his sleep from the effect, it seems, of a painful dream.* " Herbert," he said, almost playfully, " this is my second marriage day ; I would be as trim as may be to-day, for before night I hope to be espoused to my blessed Jesus." * Herbert relates the substance of this dream, in a letter to Dr. Samways, dated 28th August, 1680. "For some hours his Majesty slept very soundly ; for my part, I was so full of anguish and grief, that I took little rest. The King, some hours before day, drew his bed curtain to awaken me, and could, by the light of a wax-lamp, perceive me troubled in my sleep. The King rose forthwith ; and, as I was making him ready, 'Herbert,' said the King, 'I would know why you were disquieted in your sleep ? ' I replied, ' May it please your Ma- jesty, I was in a dream.' ' What was your dream ? ' said the King, ' I would hear it?' 'May it please your Majesty,' said I, 'I dreamed, that as you were making ready, one knocked at the bed-ch*amber door, which your Majesty took no notice of, nor was I willing to acquaint you with it, apprehending it might be Colonel Hacker. But knocking the second time, your Majesty asked me, if I heard it not ? I said I did; but did not use to go without your orders. Why then, go, know who it is, and his business. Whereupon, I opened the door, and perceived that it was the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Laud, in his pon- tifical habit, as worn at court ; I knew him, having seen him often. The Archbishop desired he might enter, having something to say to the King. I acquainted your Majesty with his desire ; so you bade me let him in. Beipg in, he made his obeisance to your Majesty in the middle of the room, doing the like also when he came near your person ; and, falling on his knees, your Majesty gave him your hand to kiss, and took him aside to the window, where some discourse passed between your Majesty and him, and I kept a becoming distance, not hearing any thing that was said, yet could perceive your Majesty pensive by your looks, and that the Archbishop gave a sigh ; who, after a short stay, again kissing your hand, returned, but with his face all the way towards your Majesty, and making his usual reverences, the third being so submiss, as he fell prostrate on his face on the ground, and I imme- diately stept to him to help him up, which I was then acting, when your Majesty saw me troubled in my sleep. The impression was so lively, that I looked about, verily thinking it was no dream.' The King said, my dream was remarkable, but he is dead ; yet, had we conferred together during life, 'tis very likely (albeit I loved him well) I should have said something to him might have occasioned his sigh." Memoirs of Sir J. Herbert, p. 219. 462 CHARLES I. He then mentioned what clothes he should wish to wear, desiring he might have a shirt more than ordinary, lest the coldness of the day might make him tremble, which, he added, might be interpreted by his enemies into fear. " I do not dread death," he said. " Death is not terrible to me. I bless my God, I am prepared." He then spent a short time in naming the few legacies which were left him to bequeath. To Prince Charles he sent his Bible, on the margin of which were his private remarks and annotations. He desired that he would read it often and with great care ; adding, that in afflic- tion he would find it to be his surest friend ; to the Duke of York .he sent a curious ring, which he had constantly been in the habit of wearing ; to the Princess Elizabeth Andrew's Sermons, Archbishop Laud against Fisher the Jesuit, and Hooker's Ecclesiastical Polity ; to the Duke of G-loucester, King James's Works, and Hammond's Practical Catechism ; Cassandra to the Earl of Lindsey ; and his gold watch to the Duchess of Eichmond, the daughter of his early favourite, the Duke of Buckingham. By this time the Bishop had arrived, and the King retired with him to prayer. After the prayers of the church had been gone through, the Bishop read the twenty- seventh chapter of St. Matthew, which describes the passion of our Saviour. The King applied the passage to his present condition, and thanked the Bishop for the selection. He was not a little surprised and gratified, when informed that the chapter was not the Bishop's choice, but was, in fact, the one set apart in the calendar for the lesson of the day. "While he was still at his devotions, Colonel Hacker knocked at the door. He appeared much agitated as he informed the King it was time to set off for Whitehall. Charles told him he would come presently, and, shortly CHARLES I. 463 afterwards, taking the Bishop by the hand, and bid- ding Herbert bring with him his silver clock, with a cheerful countenance he told them it was time to de- part. As he passed through the garden of St. James's into the Park, he inquired of Herbert the hour of the day, and afterwards bade him keep the clock for his sake. It was ten o'clock when the King came forth. On each side of him was arranged a line of soldiers, and, before and behind him were a guard of halberdiers, their drums beating and colours flying. The King passed to the scaffold, through St. James's Park, on foot ; habited, we are informed, in a long black cloak, and wearing grey stockings. On his right hand was Bishop Juxon, and on his left Colonel Tomlinson, both bareheaded. There is a tradition that, during his walk, he pointed out a tree, not far from the entrance to Spring Gardens, (close to the spot which is now a well-known station for cows,) which he said had been planted by his brother Henry. He was subjected to more than one annoyance during his pas- sage. One fanatic officer, in particular, inquired of him, with insulting barbarity, if it were true that he had been cognisant of his father's murder. Another fanatic, a " mean citizen," as he is styled by Fuller, was per- ceived to walk close by his side, and keep his eyes con- stantly fixed on the King, with an expression of particular malignity. Charles merely turned away his face ; and eventually the man was pushed aside by the more feeling among the King's persecutors. The guards marching at a slow pace, the King desired them to proceed faster. "I go," he said, "to strive for a heavenly crown, with less solicitude than I have formerly encouraged my soldiers to fight for an earthly one :" however, the noise of the drums rendered conversation extremely difficult. 464 CHARLES I. Once, during his walk, being apparently faint, he sat down and rested himself. Passing along the famous gallery, which at that time ran across the street at Whitehall to the opposite part of the palace, the King was conducted to his usual bed- chamber. The scaffolding had only been commenced the preceding afternoon,* and not having been yet com- pleted, a delay was occasioned, which afforded him a considerable time for prayer. It was a cold and dismal day. Two or three dishes had been provided for his dinner, but, having partaken of the Sacrament, he declined to eat again ; however, on its being represented to him how long he had fasted, that the weather was extremely bitter, and that, should the cold produce the least shivering, it might be represented as the effect of fear, he consented to partake of a piece of bread and a glass of claret. While he was engaged at his devotions with Bishop Juxon, JNye, and others of the puritan clergymen, knocked at the door of his apartment, and offered to assist in preparing him for his fate. But he told them they had so often prayed against him, they should never pray with him in his agony, though he should be grateful, he added, if they would remember him in their prayers. As soon as he had completed his devotions, " JSTow," he said, " let the rogues come ; I have forgiven them, and am prepared for all I am to undergo. When Colonel Hacker gave the last signal at the door of the apartment, * Home says, quoting from Walker's History of Independency, that "the King slept sound as usual, though the noise of workmen, em- ployed in framing the scaffold, and other preparations for his execution, resounded in his ears." This is more poetical than true. Charles had passed the previous night at St. James's, at the distance of nearly half a mile. Even had he slept at Whitehall, as his apartments were close to the water's side, he could scarcely have been disturbed by the noise. CHARLES I. 465 the Bishop and Herbert fell on their knees weeping : the King gave them his hand to kiss, and, as Juxon was an old man, he kindly assisted him to rise. To Colonel Tomlinson, who had shown him every attention in his power, he presented his gold tooth-pick case, requesting him to remain near his person to the last. Then, desiring the door to be opened, and telling Hacker he was prepared to follow him, he passed with a cheer- ful countenance through an avenue of guards to the scaffold. YOU I. 466 CHAPTER XVIII. The exact Spot -where Charles -was Beheaded Last Moments of the Monarch The Execution Horror of the Spectators Cromwell gazing on the King's Corpse General Sorrow on the Death of Charles Homage paid to his Memory by his Enemies Lines by the Mar- quis of Montrose The King's Executioner The Body taken to Windsor The royal Obsequies in St. George's Chapel Doubts formerly existing respecting the real Burial-place of Charles Sir Henry Halford's Account of the opening of King Charles's Coffin, in 1813 The King's Children. CONSIDERABLE doubt has existed as to the exact spot on which Charles was beheaded. The scaffold was un- questionably raised in front of the Banqueting-House, from the centre of that building to the end nearest to Charing Cross. In height it was level with the top of the lower windows. Immediately in the centre of the building, between the upper and lower windows, a passage had been broken in the wall, through which the unfortunate King passed. At the recent renovation of the Banqueting-House, the author was invited to visit the spot, when the passage in question was plainly perceptible. For a space of about seven feet in height and four in breadth, the bricks presented a broken and jagged appearance, and the brickwork introduced was evi- dently of more modern date. " The King," says Herbert, " was led all along the galleries and Banqueting-House, and there was a passage broken through the wall, by which the King passed unto the scaffold." The warrant for the King's execution expressly directs that it shall take place " in the open street before Whitehall." CHARLES I. 467 To return to the last moments of Charles. The scaffold was covered with black cloth, and a coffin, lined with black velvet, was in readiness to receive his remains. To the platform were affixed iron rings and staples, to which ropes were attached, by which it was intended to force the King to the block, should he make the least attempt at resistance. The persons who attended him to the scaffold, besides Bishop Juxon, were his two faithful gentlemen of the bed-chamber, Harrington and Herbert. The former afterwards suffered so much from the shock he received by witnessing his master's death, that an illness ensued which nearly cost him his life. The King himself appeared cheerful, resigned, and even happy. He merely requested of Colonel Hacker, to be careful that he was not put to unnecessary pain. Having put on his satin cap, he inquired of one of the two executioners, both of whom were masked, if his hair was in the way. The man requested him to push it under his cap. As he was doing so, with the assistance of the Bishop and the executioner, he turned to the former; " I have a good cause," he said, " and a gracious God on my side." The Bishop. " There is but one stage more ; this stage is turbulent and troublesome, it is a short one ; but you may consider it will soon carry you a great way ; it will carry you from earth to heaven ; and there you will find a great deal of cordial joy and comfort." The King. "I go from a corruptible to an incorruptible crown, where no disturbance can be, no disturbance in the world." The Bishop. " You are exchanged from a temporal to an eternal crown; a good exchange." Observing one of the persons, who had been admitted to the scaffold, accidentally touching the edge of the axe H H 2 468 CHARLES I. with his cloak, the King requested him to be careful. Then, again inquiring of the executioner, " is my hair well? " he took off his cloak and George, and, delivering the latter to the Bishop, exclaimed significantly " remem- ber." To the executioner he said, " I shall say but short prayers, and when I thrust out my hands ." Looking at the block, he said, " you must set it fast." The executioner replied it was fast. The King remarked it might have been higher. Being told it could not have been higher, he said, " when I put out my hands this way, then " In the meantime, having divested himself of his cloak and doublet, and being in his waistcoat, he again put on his cloak. Then, lifting up his hands and eyes to heaven, and repeating a few words to himself which were inaudible to the by-standers, he calmly knelt down and laid his neck on the block. The executioner stooping to put his hair under his cap, the King, thinking he was about to strike, bid him ivait for the sir/n. After a short pause he stretched out his hands, and the executioner at one blow severed his head from his body. The head was immediately lifted up by the other headsman and exhi- bited to the people. " Behold," he exclaimed, " the head of a traitor." * Thus, on the 30th of January, 1649, at the age of forty-nine, died King Charles. The dismal groan, which rose at the moment of his decapitation from the dense populace around, was never forgotten by those who were * In the British Museum is preserved a curious single folio sheet, printed at Frankfort shortly after King Charles's death, in which there is a print descriptive of his execution, surmounted by medallion heads of Charles, Cromwell, and Fairfax. The only persons represented to be on the scaffold, besides Charles, and the two executioners, who are in masks, are Bishop Juxon, and Colonels Tomlinson and Hacker. There is a Latin motto from Horace, Carm., lib. i., ode 4. CHARLES I. 469 present. Certainly, by the vast majority of the people of England, the execution of Charles was regarded as an atrocious murder. Philip Henry, the famous divine, was a witness of the memorable scene. " He used to men- tion," writes his son, " that at the instant when the blow was given, there was such a dismal universal groan among the thousands of people that were within sight, as it were with one consent, as he never heard before and desired he might never hear the like again." This fact is corroborated by the testimony of an aged person, one Margaret Coe, who died in 1730, at the age of one hundred and three. She saw the executioner hold up the head, and well " remembered the dismal groan which was made by the vast multitude of spectators when the fatal blow was given." * Immediately after the axe had fallen, a party of horse rode rapidly from Charing Cross to King Street, and another from King Street to Charing Cross, with the object of dispersing the people, or, more probably, of dissipating their gloomy thoughts. The body of Charles, having been placed in the coffin * Sir Edward Peyton, in address ing his work, the Divine Catastrophe, to the Commons of England, has the following remarkable passage : ' ' I thrice humbly desire your patronage, especially finding by expe- rience the composition and style of this present narrative will incur the di.<_ Jcasure and hatred of most of this state." This admission coming from a fifth monarchy man, as Anthony Wood styles Peyton, and addressed to the heads of his own party, is certainly of some weight. Indeed, whatever might have been the general feeling against the political character and conduct of Charles, there can be no doubt that his public death upon the scaffold was regarded by nine- tenths of the people as a bloody and atrocious act. Among the actors or spectators of the execution of Charles, there may have been some to whom, from motives of ambition, or a persuasion of its political expe- diency, that scene was not unpalatable ; but these persons were neither many in number, nor were they, generally speaking, among the more respectable of their party. 470 CHARLES I. prepared for it, was conveyed by Bishop Juxon and Herbert to the back stairs at Whitehall, to be embalmed. In their way they encountered Cromwell, who informed them that orders would be speedily issued for the burial. The regicide came shortly afterwards to gaze upon the corpse of his victim ; remarking on the appearance of health, and promise of longevity, which it exhibited. One Thomas Tropham, surgeon to Fairfax, and a bachelor of physic in the university of Oxford, was employed to embalm the body and to sew on the head. There were many spectators of the ceremony. At its completion, the operator remarked, with brutal ribaldry, that he had been sewing on the head of a goose. No monarch ever departed this life more beloved and lamented by his own party than did the unfortunate Charles. They felt as if a near and dear friend had been snatched from their sight. Archbishop Usher, who witnessed the death of his master from the roof of "Wallingford House (the site of the present Admiralty), was carried away fainting ; and Dr. Fell, Dean of Christ Church, died, it is said, of grief, when the tidings were brought to him. The majority of the people of England expressed their sorrow as loudly as they felt it deeply. All, who were able to approach the body, dipped their handkerchiefs and staves in his blood ; the block was cut into small pieces ; and large sums of money were offered for a lock of his hair, or a few grains of the sand which had been discoloured by his blood. It seems that, in addition to the common interest attached to such relics, it was supposed they would be efficacious in curing the evil. But even his enemies, on more than one occasion, paid unexpected homage to his memory. Perhaps the most singular is the tribute of the regicide Henry Martin. " If we are to have a King," he said in the House of CHARLES I. 471 Commons, " I would as soon have the last gentleman as anv sovereign on record." But the fine verses of Andrew Marvel, another foe to monarchy, must not be omitted, "While round the armed bands Did clasp their bloody hands, He nothing common did or mean, After that memorable scene ; But with his keener eye The axe's edge did try, Nor called the gods, with rulgar spite, To vindicate his helpless right, But bowed his comely head Down, as upon a bed. The heroic Marquis of Montrose is said to have -written his master's epitaph with the point of his sword. The lines attributed to him, and rendered thus remarkable, the author had previously imagined to be the production of John Cleveland, more especially as they are printed among his works, and as the death of the martyred King is a favourite subject of his muse. Bishop Gruthrie, however, who was likely to have the best information on the subject, inserts them in his Memoirs as the produc- tion of the Marquis, without in the least questioning their authenticity. The lines are as follow : Great, good, and just ! could I but rate My griefs, and thy too rigid fate ; I'd weep the world to such a strain, As it should deluge once again j But since thy loud-tongued blood demands supplies, More from Briareus" hands than Argus' eyes ; I'll sing thy obsequies with trumpet sounds, And write thy epitaph with blood and wounds. There has existed much doubt and discussion respecting the identity of the King's executioner. Several persons Lave been named for the unenviable honour, and sufficient 472 CHARLES I. materials might be collected on the subject to form a curious and entertaining treatise. However, after every attention to the evidence (and some interesting matter has recently been brought to light), there seems to be no doubt that it was Eichard Brandon, the common executioner, who had previously beheaded the Earl of Strafford. This man eventually died in great agony of mind, and was carried to the grave followed by the execrations of the populace.* The royal corpse, having been embalmed and placed in a leaden coffin, was conveyed to St. James's Palace. Permission was refused by the usurping authorities to inter it in Henry the Seventh's Chapel, although, at the same time, they allowed five hundred pounds to defray the expenses of the interment. The reason given for the refusal, was the " infinite numbers of persons " who would be attracted to the melancholy spectacle. The spot eventually agreed upon by both parties was "Windsor. Thither the melancholy cavalcade proceeded : the body being placed in a hearse covered with black velvet, and drawn by six horses. It was followed by four mourning coaches, containing several of the most faithful servants of the deceased monarch, who hastened to pay this last tribute to his memory. The first resting-place was the Dean's house at Windsor, where the royal corpse was placed in an apartment hung with black, and surrounded by lights. From thence it was removed to the King's usual bed-chamber in the castle. The persons to whom the performance of the royal obsequies was intrusted were, the Duke of Bichmond, the Marquis of Hertford, Lord Southampton, Lord * See Ellis's Orig. Letters, vol. iii. ; Kennett's Complete Hist., vol. iii. ; Gent. Mag. for 1767 ; Trial of the Regicides ; and Granger's Biog. Hist., voL ii., 249. CHARLES I. 473 Lindsey, the Bishop of London, Herbert, and Mildmay. They had all been devoted servants of their late master. Their first step was to proceed to St. George's Chapel, to select a proper resting-place for his remains. That beautiful and interesting building was at this period, internally, a mass of ruins. The ancient inscriptions, the architectural ornaments, the stalls and banners of the Knights of the Garter, had been either torn down or defaced by the hands of the republicans, and lay strewed in melancholy devastation on the floor. It was found impossible to distinguish the tomb of a monarch from the grave of a verger. At last, one of the noblemen present, happening to strike the pavement with his staff", perceived by the hollow sound that there was a vault beneath. The stones and earth having been removed, they came to two coffins, which proved to be those of King Henry the Eighth and Queen Jane Seymour. Though considerably more than a century had elapsed since their interment, the velvet palls which covered their coffins were still fresh. In this vault, over against the eleventh stall' on the sovereigns' side, it was decided to inter the body of King Charles. Accordingly, on the 7th of February, the royal remains, having been carried from the King's bed-chamber into St. George's Hall, were thence borne to the chapel. In addition to those to whom the solemnization of the funeral had been originally entrusted, Colonel Whichcot, the Governor of the Castle, and several of his officers, attended the ceremony. The snow fell thick upon the velvet pall, so that, when it entered the chapel, it was perfectly white, the "colour of innocency." Bishop Juxon stood ready at the head of the vault, with the Book of Common Prayer in his hand. He was pre- paring to read the burial service, according to the rites 474 CHARLES I. of the Church of England, when he was stopped by the Governor. "The Book of Common Prayer," said the bigoted soldier, " had been put down by authority, and should not be used in any garrison where he com- manded." The coffin was then lowered into the tomb amidst the tears and prayers of the faithful followers of the unfortunate monarch. On its leaden surface was inscribed, in capital letters, KING CHARLES, 1648. A mysterious doubt existed for many years respecting the burial-place of King Charles. ' ' Make sacred Charles's tomb for ever known, Obscure the place, and uninscribed the stone." POPE. By many it was believed that he lay within the pre- cincts of Whitehall, and that the coffin on which was inscribed his name merely contained stones and rubbish.* Another report was circulated by the republican party, after the Eestoration, that the bodies of Charles and Cromwell had been made to change coffins, so that, in reality, it was the corpse of the King, and not that of his adversary, which had been exposed at Tyburn, and then buried beneath the gallows. There was certainly one circumstance which attached some slight weight to these otherwise idle rumours. At the Restoration, the Par- liament had voted the large sum of seventy thousand * Aubrey says, "I well remember it was frequently and soberly affirmed by officers of arms and grandees, that the body of King Charles the First was privately put into the sand at Whitehall ; and the coffin that was carried to Windsor, and laid in King Henry the Eighth's vault, was filled viia rubbish and brick-bats. Sir Fabian Phillips, juris- consultus, who adveulured his life before the King's trial by printing, assures me that the King's cuiiiu cost but six shillings : a plain deal coffin." CHARLES I. 475 pounds towards a public funeral for the late King, and for the purpose of erecting a grateful and a lasting monu- ment to his memory. To the astonishment, however, of all men, it was given out, by authority, that his resting- place could nowhere be discovered. It was stated that, of those who attended the funeral, the Duke of Eichmond, the Marquis of Hertford, and Bishop Juxon, were no more ; and, moreover, that the chapel had been in such a state of ruin and confusion at the time of the interment, that the Earls of Southampton and Lindsey, though they had visited Windsor for the express purpose, had found it utterly impossible to identity the spot. Considering the number of other persons who were present on the melancholy occasion and, moreover, that when Evelyn visited Windsor a short time afterwards, the grave of Charles was readily pointed out to him we cannot but think that some deception was intentionally practised. Was it that Charles the Second was unwilling to disgust the republican party by giving his father another and splendid funeral ; or could it indeed have been that the money voted by Parliament was sacrilegiously appropriated to some other purpose ? But all doubts were set at rest in our times, by the opening of King Charles's coffin in 1813, in the presence of George the Fourth, then Prince of Wales, the late King of Hanover, and other persons. The interesting account of Sir Henry Halford is well known. " On removing the pall, a plain leaden coffin, with no appear- ance of ever having been enclosed in wood, and bearing an inscription, King Charles, 1648, in large legible characters, on a scroll of lead encircling it, immediately presented itself to the view. A square opening was then made in the upper part of the lid, of such dimensions as to admit a clear insight into its contents. These were 476 CHARLES I. an internal wooden coffin, very much decayed, and the body carefully wrapt up in cere-cloth, into the folds of which a quantity of unctuous or greasy matter, mixed with resin, as it seems, had been melted, so as to exclude, as effectually as possible, the external air. The coffin was completely full, and, from the tenacity of the cere- cloth, great difficulty was experienced in detaching it successfully from the parts which it enveloped. Wherever the unctuous matter had insinuated itself, the separation of the cere-cloth was easy, and when it came off a correct impression of the features to which it had been applied was observed in the unctuous substance. At length the whole face was disengaged from its covering. The com- plexion of the skin of it was dark and discoloured. The forehead and temples had lost little or nothing of their muscular substance ; the cartilage of the nose was gone ; but the left eye, in the first moment of exposure, was open and full, though it vanished almost immediately ; and the pointed beard, so characteristic of the period of the reign of .King Charles, was perfect. The shape of the face was a long oval ; many of the teeth remained ; and the left ear, in consequence of the interposition of the unctuous matter between it and the cere-cloth, was found entire. When the head had been entirely dis- engaged from the attachments which confined it, it was found to be loose, and, without any difficulty, was taken up and held to view. It was quite wet, and gave a greenish red tinge to paper and linen which touched it. The back part of the scalp was entirely perfect, and had a remarkably fresh appearance, nearly black. A portion of it, which has been since cleaned and dried, is of a beautiful dark brown colour.* That of the beard was a * This is singular ; it being an unquestionable fact that the King's hair was almost yrey, long previous to his triaL CHARLES I. 477 redder brown. On the back of the head the hair was not more than an inch in length, and had been probably cut so short for the convenience of the executioner, or perhaps by the piety of friends, soon after death, in order to furnish memorials of the unhappy King. On holding up the head, to examine the place of separation from the body, the muscles of the neck had evidently retracted themselves considerably ; and the fourth cervical vertebra was found to be cut through its substance trans- versely, leaving the surfaces of the divided portions per- fectly smooth and even ; an appearance which could have been produced only by a heavy blow, inflicted with a very sharp instrument, and which furnished the last proof wanting to identify King Charles the First." By his Queen, Henrietta Maria, the King had eight children. Besides those whose Memoirs will be hereafter introduced, he had a son named Charles, his first-born, who survived the rite of baptism but a few hours. The infant was born at Greenwich, in 1628 ; its birth having been accelerated by a fright suffered by the Queen. It is remarkable that the Roman Catholic priests of the Queen's household were in anxious expectation of its birth, trusting, by an immediate and secret baptism, to smuggle it into their own church. Charles, however, was on the watch, and directed his chaplain, Dr. Webb, who was in attendance, to baptize it according to the forms of the Church of England. The infant was buried at "Westminster. Another of the King's children was Catherine, his fourth daughter, whose career was equally brief. This child, as were most of the offspring of Charles, was born at "Whitehall. It was the practice of Charles, whenever his Queen gave birth to a child at "Whitehall, to despatch one of the members of his household, with a sum of money, to St. Martin's church, in order to ensure 478 CHARLES I. the birth being formally recorded in the parish-books. The fact, however, has been pointed out as a curious one, that only in one instance can such royal entry be traced on the registers. The King, it is said, was deceived by those whom he employed, who preferred appropriating the money to their own advantage.* * Fuller's Worthies, vol. ii., p. 108. OP YOL I. BRADBrRY AND KVANS, PRINTERS, WHTTKFRTARfl. I\-M *? ' at tbe Turk's Head. : -'"' J-vKX&. DAAlflPa r>f^nt 01 >ii-. , Ififfi '' < ur8 ead - inFleet rt lw2, besides contaiuiug an account of -'Th,, r^' |||gi|:f|^| SHte^lffll all my soul (I see that tnere are some here that will carry it further) that they endanger the peac of ttie kingdom. Sirs, I must show you both yon are out of the way,,and put .yen in a way. tfirst, you are out of thew^y, f or 'oertainly all the ways you have ever had yet, as far as I could find by anything, is in the! >way of ctoquesta. Cer- tainly tWs is an iliTWBy, for conquest, in my opinion, is never jua$^. except there be a just and good cause, either for matter of vnog^orja just title; and then il ye co bcyouOT tne first quarrel that ye have, ertainiug to them. A subject and a sovereign are clean different things ; atul. there- fore, until you do that I mean, that you put the people into that liberty, as I say certaiMy they will never enjoy themselves. ' Sirs,? it was for this that I am now hither come; lor if I would have given way to an arbi- trary way, for to have all laws changed according; to the power of the sword. I would no< have come here; and, therefore, I tell you (and I pray God it be not laid to your charge) that I am the martyr of the people. In truth, sirs, I shall not hoW you any longer. I will only say this to yon. tf>:>! 1 could have desired some little time longer, be- cause I would have put this whole that I have saM-tera little better order, and hav0"hn*lt a littl#%fetter digested than 1 have done; and there- fwcThope you will excuse me. I have delivered my 'conscience: I pray God you take those courses that are best for the good of the Kingdom and your own salvation," And after some ejaculation the author goes on to say : "He laid his head upon the block*, and stretched out his hands (the sign) and had it sev- ered from his body at one blow by the vizored executioner, who presently held it up and shewed it to the people," etc. A Rl ftPKMAIIFR, BONN'S VARIOUS LIBRARIES. Longfellow*! Poetical Works, com- plete, including The Wayside Inn. Tutnty-four page Engravings, by Birket Potter and other*, and a new Portrait. ; or, without the illustrations, Prose Works, complete. Six- 31. W. teen page Engraving* by Ifirket Fatter and other*. London's ^Mrs.) Entertaining Natur- alist. New Edition. Revised by W. S. DALLAS, F.L.S. With nearly 500 En- graving*. It. Marryat's Masterman Beady; or, The Wreck of the Pacific. 93 Engravings. Mission ; or, Scenes in Af- rica. (Written for Young People.) Illus- trated by Gilbert and Ualziel. 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